"Smolyan region has the worst and most dangerous roads in the country". This was announced by the chairwoman of the European Center for Transport Policies Diana Rusinova, after touring the republican road network in the region, quoted by BTA.
A team from the center inspected sections of the road Krichim – Mihalkovo, Grokhotno – Teshel, Zdravets – Rozhen, Belitsa – Zagrazhden, Srutishteto near the village of Tikale and Madan – Pechinsko pass.
Rusenova pointed out that before the tour in the region, they thought that the roads in Sofia and Northwestern Bulgaria were the worst maintained, but now she is categorical that the absolute leader in bad roads is Smolyan.
„The republican road network is unmaintained, neglected, in places it is dangerous – missing signs, missing markings, uncleaned vegetation and ditches. This shows a lack of any interest“, added Diana Rusinova.
During the tour, the team visited the section between the villages of Grokhotno and Teshel on road III-197 Devin – Dospat – Gotse Delchev, where for years the route has partially collapsed towards the river and there are several collapses from 15 years ago. For several years, the collapsed sections on road III-866 Smolyan – Devin in the area of the villages of Stoykite and Shiroka Laka.
Diana Rusinova also visited the collapse near the village of Tikale on road II-86, which became active on March 7, 2018 and closed the republican road II-86 in the area of the junction for the village of Tikale.
A bypass road was built, which was used for only a few months. From October 2018 until now, traffic on the second-class republican road has been in one lane and is regulated by a traffic light system.
According to Diana Rusinova, this collapse is extremely dangerous and there is a real risk that the road will collapse into the river.
„From what has been done, it is clear that from the very beginning the collapse has been so preserved that it will remain in this form for a long time. I believe that there were no and there are no plans to do so soon,“ she also said.
Diana Rusinova recalled that on January 31 this year, a meeting was held at the regional governor Zahari Sirakov in the presence of representatives of the Regional Road Administration (RTA) in Smolyan and the “Traffic Police“ sector, at which promises were made that have not yet been fulfilled.
Rusinova gave as an example that where the retaining walls and nets are, no one has bothered to clean up the fallen stones, which is indicative of the quality of the work of the RTA management - Smolyan.
“The problems on the republican road network in the region of Smolyan region are yet to be analyzed. They are very deep and we need to look for more specific solutions than the usual ones. The problem is the negligence and lack of taking responsibility,“ added Rusinova.