The asphalt pavement of the road between Smolyan and Pamporovo continues to crack, split and collapse. A month after the disaster, the only option that experts and the state offer for the restoration of the section is a bridge facility.
It must be built over the landslide itself, with both ends resting on the solid foundations of the existing road.
An emergency route over the collapsed section is expected to be built within 10 days. At the same time, Pamporovo is preparing to open the summer season in a few days, and the Minister of Tourism Ilin Dimitrov is expected to arrive in the resort next week for an inspection.
For a month now, the interrupted road has been costing travelers nerves and lost time. Zdravka and Svetoslav travel every day via the detour routes from Smolyan to Pamporovo, where they work. “This is murder for us. The costs increase quite a bit. On the one hand, you wreck the car because there are potholes, on the other - you detour and pay. The travel time increases by an hour”, says Zdravka. Svetoslav adds that he is considering giving up his job at the resort altogether. “I have to travel two hours a day. Until now, we traveled about 40 minutes each way”, he explains.
The transport companies are in the same situation. Bus drivers complain of delays of 20 minutes, for which they are criticized by passengers. "Now we pass through Stoykite. The terrain there is bad and you can't drive fast. In winter it will be very difficult there, if it snows - we will be delayed by an hour," says driver Yulian Ognyanov.
The landslide has also cut off a holiday village, where entrepreneur Stiliyan Stavrakev is building a new complex for tens of millions of leva. Access is now only possible from Smolyan, which is refused by suppliers of construction materials. "Those who still come have to transfer the load to smaller cars. This makes the delivery of materials more expensive and the transport becomes twice as expensive," the businessman calculates.
According to the report of experts from "Geozashitsa" - Pernik, the landslide is still active. However, the regional governor of Smolyan, Georgi Pepelanov, also reports positive signs. “With this dry weather for two or three days, we have observed that no surface water is noticeable. Perhaps it will turn out that the cause of this landslide is overwetting of the terrain from snowfall and rain”, he commented.
Pepelanov assured that within a few days the emergency bypass over the landslide will be ready, which will allow the problematic section covered with gravel to be bypassed. “If everything goes normally, within 10 days all workers in the resort complex will be traveling on this road. Depending on whether the gauge is wider in places, we will decide whether to allow it for all cars up to 3.5 tons,” the regional governor specified.
In parallel, an option to use an alternative municipal road under the landslide, proposed by hoteliers in Pamporovo, is also being discussed. Currently, the route is used for agricultural purposes, as part of it is also buried by the earth mass.
“This road is much wider, more convenient and not as steep as the road above the landslide. It will be used by absolutely all tourists who are in Pamporovo and want to go down to Smolyan”, explains Nedyalko Katsarov, owner of complexes in the resort.
A local construction company has offered to build the alternative route in 60 days for 1.4 million euros. “There is no funding. At this stage, the Municipality of Smolyan cannot afford this expense. Therefore, I appeal and call on President Rumen Radev and the Minister of Regional Development Ivan Shishkov to come, look and listen to the private initiatives of local people and businesses,” Katsarov calls.