A HORRENDOUS traffic accident in which the brakes of a heavily laden lorry failed, leading to the deaths of three pedestrians, five others being injured, and the mowing down of several cars and the front of a building in the Knyazhevo district in Sofia, put back on the public agenda the construction of the Lyulin highway and the problems with TIR lorry traffic.
The project for the new highway, which will detour the heavy international traffic from Macedonia and Greece to Serbia and Romania, was approved in 2001.
Even though the funds have been already provided under the EU ISPA programme and the project has been approved by the Environment and Waters Ministry, the residents of the village of Malo Buchino, through which the road will pass, have practically stalled it.
After infuriated residents of Knyazhevo blocked the road on which the accident happened, the traffic on the E79 international road was detoured through Malo Buchino and the Pernik neighbourhood of Moshino.
This sparked the anger of the residents there and they also blocked the roads.
For most of the weekend and the beginning of this week, the southwestern approaches to Sofia were blocked in various places.
The blockades, which caused traffic congestions and exchange of angry remarks, prompted municipal authorities to seek a permanent solution to the problem.
At a meeting in the beginning of this week, Sofia mayor Stefan Sofianski, Interior Minister Georgi Petkanov, regional governor Olimpi Kutev, Regional Development and Public Works Minister Valentin Tserovski and police officials discussed the matter and decided to divide the TIR traffic in three parts.
The lorries traveling along the E79 route will enter Sofia through Malo Buchino and will exit through Knyazhevo. The old road from Dupnitsa trough Samokov to Ihtiman will also be repaired and used for traffic going from Greece and Macedonia to the Kalotina border checkpoint and other parts of the country.
At the meeting it was also decided that the construction of the Lyulin highway will start in the spring and is expected to be finished in two years' time.
These plans, however, provoked the transport companies and the lorry drivers to threaten protests and blockades in the centre of Sofia. According to them, the new routes are longer, the roads are worse and sometimes impassable in winter and will cause them financial losses.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolai Vassielv ordered the BDZ state railway company to draft a project for transit transport of lorries, known as the Ro-La system.
In an interview with Trud daily, the head of the National Union of Transport Companies, Krassimir Lalov, said that if the authorities make them pass through Ihtiman, there will be mass protests.
- Staff Reporter
The project for the new highway, which will detour the heavy international traffic from Macedonia and Greece to Serbia and Romania, was approved in 2001.
Even though the funds have been already provided under the EU ISPA programme and the project has been approved by the Environment and Waters Ministry, the residents of the village of Malo Buchino, through which the road will pass, have practically stalled it.
After infuriated residents of Knyazhevo blocked the road on which the accident happened, the traffic on the E79 international road was detoured through Malo Buchino and the Pernik neighbourhood of Moshino.
This sparked the anger of the residents there and they also blocked the roads.
For most of the weekend and the beginning of this week, the southwestern approaches to Sofia were blocked in various places.
The blockades, which caused traffic congestions and exchange of angry remarks, prompted municipal authorities to seek a permanent solution to the problem.
At a meeting in the beginning of this week, Sofia mayor Stefan Sofianski, Interior Minister Georgi Petkanov, regional governor Olimpi Kutev, Regional Development and Public Works Minister Valentin Tserovski and police officials discussed the matter and decided to divide the TIR traffic in three parts.
The lorries traveling along the E79 route will enter Sofia through Malo Buchino and will exit through Knyazhevo. The old road from Dupnitsa trough Samokov to Ihtiman will also be repaired and used for traffic going from Greece and Macedonia to the Kalotina border checkpoint and other parts of the country.
At the meeting it was also decided that the construction of the Lyulin highway will start in the spring and is expected to be finished in two years' time.
These plans, however, provoked the transport companies and the lorry drivers to threaten protests and blockades in the centre of Sofia. According to them, the new routes are longer, the roads are worse and sometimes impassable in winter and will cause them financial losses.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Transport and Communications Nikolai Vassielv ordered the BDZ state railway company to draft a project for transit transport of lorries, known as the Ro-La system.
In an interview with Trud daily, the head of the National Union of Transport Companies, Krassimir Lalov, said that if the authorities make them pass through Ihtiman, there will be mass protests.
- Staff Reporter
