site.btaUPDATED Danube Bridge-2 Traffic Hits Nine-Year High

Traffic across the bridge between the Bulgarian town of Vidin and the Romanian town of Calafat is two to three times heavier than usual, setting records in its nine-year history, said Lyudmil Dimitrov, Director of the Danube Bridge Vidin - Calafat Bulgarian-Romanian company. More than 1,100 lorries and more than 1,300 cars and buses leave Bulgaria daily.

Incoming traffic is just as heavy, according to Deputy Transport and Communications Minister Nikolay Naydenov. He inspected European route E79 and the Danube Bridge-2 border checkpoint on Tuesday and met with representatives of all authorities responsible for traffic across the bridge. The inspection was ordered by Deputy Prime Minister and Transport and Communications Minister Hristo Aleksiev on account of a tailback of outgoing lorries.

Naydenov said a framework document had been drawn up to ease clearance at the border checkpoint. The Romanian side is expected to announce it position on the draft document.

In search of a long-term solution to bridge bottlenecks, Aleksiev will initiate a meeting with Romanian Deputy Prime Minister and Transport and Infrastructure Minister Sorin Mihai Grindeanu.