The curse is lifted: the sections of the Bihor motorway, which have been under construction for 22 years, could be handed over as early as December

Exactly ten years ago, we experienced first-hand the hardships of motorway construction in Romania: our report at the time revealed numerous incredible stories, but none of them were in the same league as the story of the A3 motorway in northern Transylvania, currently under construction between Bihar (Biharia) and Berettyószéplak (Suplacu de Barcau). Here, construction has been launched in vain three times since 2004: the Romanian infrastructure developer CNAIR finally terminated its contract with the current contractor in 2013 (Bechtel), 2016 (Corsan-Corviam) and 2022 (Trameco).

The curse that has plagued the Bihor motorway finally seems to be lifting: according to the latest reports in the Romanian press, traffic is set to begin on both the Bihor–Bistritea Mare (Chiribis) and the Bistritea Mare–Berettyószéplak sections in December!

There had already been good news from the western section of the Bihar project in the spring and summer

In the latter case, the handover in December means that the deadline specified in the contract will be met, as confirmed by a report published by our newspaper reported on in May: on the 26.35 km stretch between Bisztraterebes and Berettyószéplak, the project was progressing in line with the Romanian Erbasu Transilvania Sa plan. Furthermore, we were able to report on the background to an exemplary example of Romanian-Hungarian cooperation: as a subcontractor, the lion’s share of the work was carried out by the Hungarian companies EuroAszfalt Kft., Kelet Út Kft. and Albert Bau Kft., whilst the Romanian Hungarian company Metal Hammer Bau Srl. is carrying out the work.

The CEO of Erbasu, Călin Roman, also confirmed that work was proceeding according to schedule in July this year: who announced to Agerpres at the time that the motorway section was 80 per cent complete.

The relocation of the main road has now been completed

The contractual deadline for the other missing section of the A3 motorway in Bihor is May 2027; however, the Precon Transilvania contract, which forms part of the Selina csoport contract, is proceeding at a much faster pace than planned. According to the July article on szekelyhon.ro cited above and the economedia.ro Monday’s news both report that the 28.55-kilometre stretch of motorway between Bihar and Bisztraterebes could open five months ahead of the contractual deadline.

According to the latter article, asphalting has now been completed along the entire section, and the construction of the engineering structures is also at an advanced stage. In parallel with this, the relocation of the DN19E road, which connects Bihar and Bisztraterebes (as it stands), has also been completed.

The opening of the sections in Bihor is of enormous significance from a Hungarian perspective. This is because, once these sections are open, the A3 motorway will be four-lane for the approximately 73.8-kilometre stretch between the Hungarian border and Szilágynagyfalu (Nușfalău) by 2026. This was made possible by the fact that the section between Berettyószéplak and Szilágynagyfalu had already been opened.

This could be the real breakthrough

As we noted back in January in our summary article, according to the timetables, the eastern sections of the North Transylvanian motorway are also approaching a milestone. Accordingly, in August this year the Vaskapu–Magyarzsombor section (12.24 km) was already opened, whilst the Magyarzsombor–Magyarnádas section (30.06 km), which features viaducts, is also nearing completion and will be handed over by December at the latest according to an earlier report by kronika.ro.

Completion of the latter project would mean that a motorway would run the entire 150 kilometres between Vaskapu and Marosvásárhely. From this point onwards, construction work on the A3 motorway will continue only along the approximately 41-kilometre stretch between Szilágynagyfalu and Vaskapu, between the Hungarian border and the border of Székely Land.