The highway will pass this area

It is for sure that by the end of April 2011, we will use this particular highway, as this is what the terms of the contract and the execution conditions state.

Ibram Aidîn, the manager of Region Direction of Roadways and Bridges, spoke to us about how the highway A2, that is the section between Cernavodă and Constanţa, will look like, about how much this road section will cost and which company will build it. On Ziua de Constanţa website (www.ziuadeconstanta.ro) you may access all the auction assignation documents for both parts of the Cernavodă-Constanţa road section, as appear on the website of National Company of Roadways and Bridges.

Which area will pass Cernavodă-Constanţa highway section?

Cernavodă-Constanţa road section starts at the end of the already built highway part, goes to Cernavodă Lock, is about 160 km away from the Channel's margin, at the hill feet, then climbs up to the hill tops in the section between Ivrinezu Mare and the Channel. If we use the highway towards Constanţa, we will have Ivrinezu Mare on the right, the Channel on the left, then we pass on about 3 km distance from Remus Opreanu place and, if you want a closer landmark, at about 200 m distance from the former Valea Dacilor stopping place, on the left of the village.

We will also have a discharging point at the junction between County Road no 381 and Siminoc village road, which cuts the National Road no 3 in the middle of the distance between Ciocârlia de Sus and Murfatlar. The highway passes over the Channel at 1 km distance from Straja Monument, having Valu lui Traian village on the left, and at about 3.5 km distance from the road between Cumpăna and Constanţa meets the ring road of our city.

How long will A2 highway be?

The first section, that is from Cernavodă to Medgidia, is 19.2 km long and ends at the road between Medgidia and Peştera; the next section is 31.9 km long and will be integrated by Constanţa's ring road. It will not be ended abruptly. The speed allowed will be 120 km/h. The highway will intersect passages so that those who use the ring road may be able to go from Agigea to Ovidiu without meeting Cernavodă-Constanţa highway, and those coming from Cernavodă may access the ring road without disturbing the traffic of those already driving on the ring road. This is due to all the projected passages. It's not a simple road junction, although looking on the map you may think they are perpendicular. In fact, the common segment is 700 m - 1 km long, it has four traffic lanes, then six.

When should the construction be finalised?

By no means at the end of April 2011, we will use this particular highway, as this is what the terms of the contract and the execution conditions state.

Who won the auction for the highway building?

The first road section will be made by Colas, the second by a consortium between Astaldi and Max Bogel. The ring road will be constructed by someone else.

For the A2 highway are, how will the expropriations be done?

For the moment, the expropriations are done where possible. For example, for Constanţa's ring road, the first four km are the state property. It will be just a formality. This case is not complicated. There are other areas like this. It's much easier to identify the owners for Cernavodă-Constanţa highway than for the ring road, which is very crowded. We started from 500 land owners and we have come to 580; nevertheless, there are 650 land owners in total.

How do you identify the land?

We have hired a company for this purpose, which collaborates with the Land Register and the city halls. Last week the Official Monitor published the list including the first 400 expropriations for Constanţa's ring road.

How much will this road section cost?

Presently, we discuss about the following amounts: 1^st road section: 179,706,089 € - this one being the most difficult, from our perspective. There are a lot of passages, in which resides the value of the construction, plus the assembling. The 2^nd section is 168,739,099 €. The costs were calculated at an exchange rate of 3.5302 lei per Euro, at the date of the contract signing.

When will the work be started?

At this moment, the National Company of Roads and Bridges is waiting for the letters of indemnity for the ring road construction and next week they are to receive the advance payment; once all these documents are handed in, the work will be started. Unfortunately, there are a lot of archaeological sites in the areas where this highway section will be built. There are about 27 archaeological sites. The documents for completing the archaeological research in the area are the builders' responsibility.

Will the ring road be linked to a bridge over the Channel?

All over-sized trucks will be able to enter the harbour crossing the bridge built over the Channel. The city will not be suffocated any more by so many emissions and exhaust gases. In two years' time, we will have a smoother traffic flow within the city. The ring road is almost 9 km long, including four access roads. It's impossible to have only one access route for entering the city. Constanţa will have four entrance areas.

There is considerable space between one entrance and one exit, still the entrances and the exits are more frequent, because of the city's structure.

The city will not be extending towards the sea, but across the highway, that is why there is a certain distance, so that the habitations in the area could be able to continue developing.