The Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Ivan Shishkov stated during the parliamentary control that the permanent solution to the traffic problem through Vladaya is the completion of the ring road, as this is the real exit route of Sofia to Southern Bulgaria.
On September 17, the Supreme Expert Council will consider and approve the Detailed Development Plan (DDP) for the last section of the Sofia Ring Road, the Minister said in response to a question from Petar Petrov - MP from the “Vazrazhdane“ parliamentary group, for the implementation of short-term and long-term safety measures on the republican road E-79 in the Vladaya region.
Minister Shishkov informed that the Agency "Road Infrastructure" has been assigned to begin preparations for public procurement procedures after the approval of the Development Plan. "Public procurement is made when there are detailed development plans, and money is not given, as you mentioned, for the "Hemus" highway," commented Minister Shishkov.
We are underway in the second section, which in 2023, when it was our official cabinet and I was the regional minister, we approved the other section of the Sofia Ring Road. So the focus is on real safety and real relief for Sofia residents for access to Southern Bulgaria, and this is the implementation of the Sofia Ring Road, said Minister Shishkov.
In early July, the regional minister announced that the Development Plan for the section from Buxton district to "Tsar Boris III" Blvd. is expected to be approved soon. The good news, however, is that most likely very soon, perhaps within about a month, a detailed development plan will be approved for the first section, which is from Buxton to the crossing of "Tsar Boris", the minister indicated at the time and informed that for the second section, whose PUP was adopted in 2023, an expropriation procedure has been launched in parallel. We hope that perhaps in about three months we will have a decree of the Council of Ministers in order to begin the actual expropriation process, the Minister added in July.
Among the short-term measures to improve road safety in the Vladaya region, where in July a 63-year-old woman died in a crash between two passenger cars, the Minister today indicated the installation of two rows of flexible dividing posts on a nearly 5-kilometer section, with the exception of intersections and zones for the start and end of reverse traffic, the introduction of a speed limit of up to 50 km/h in a certain section. Minister Shishkov also said that this year a new horizontal marking with reflective glass beads and an additive to increase traction has already been laid. It is also planned to restore the missing elements and install additional preliminary signaling.
The Regional Minister also announced that the RIA is preparing a public procurement for the design and construction of automatic systems for reversing control in three-lane sections through traffic light systems, which will eliminate the need for manual installation of road signaling. According to the information provided to me, the procedure is planned to start by the end of 2026, the Minister added.