Just days before the historic passage of the Giro d'Italia cycling tour through Bulgaria, serious doubts about the quality of the road infrastructure cast a shadow over the preparations for the event.
Although the organizers assure that everything is going according to plan, independent inspections reveal worrying problems on sections of the route.
The team of the European Center for Transport Policies, led by Diana Rusinova, has carried out inspections along the route, including the section between Kostenets, Dolna Banya and Samokov.
According to them, the condition of recently repaired roads has been compromised from the very beginning, bTV reports.
Among the main findings are:
uneven and wavy asphalt, laid in places with a thickness of only 2 cm;
visibly poor-quality and crooked road markings;
laying asphalt under adverse conditions, including during rain;
lack of adequate control over the implementation of repair activities.
Especially worrying is the fact that when attempting to correct the markings with modern equipment, part of the asphalt layer literally peels off. This calls into question not only the quality, but also the safety of the route, on which competitors are expected to reach speeds of up to 70 km/h.
“This road is dangerous. If it rains, the risk of accidents is huge“, Rusinova announced in an interview for the program “This Saturday and Sunday“.
The problems are not limited to this section. According to experts, there are other risk areas with fallen rocks, damaged guardrails and dead trees hanging over the road.
At the same time, other cities along the route such as Burgas, Sliven and Veliko Tarnovo show significantly better quality of the repairs carried out.
The financial aspect also raises questions. The initially announced cost for the preparation of the route was around 10 million euros, but the amount subsequently increased to 55 million euros. At the moment, there is a lack of transparency regarding the costs and possible sanctions for poor quality implementation.
Although the event is an undeniable chance for international advertising of Bulgaria as a tourist destination, there is a risk that the country will be presented in a negative light due to compromised infrastructure, warns Rusinova.