Tunnel under Petrohan Pass
TransportBulgaria
Romania
- The idea to build a tunnel under Petrohan Pass existed for years. The aim of the project for tunnel under Petrohan Pass is to facilitate the trip to North-Western Republic of Bulgaria and shorten the distance to Romania.
- It will also shorten the trip between the Greek port Thessaloniki and the Bulgarian port Lom.
The tunnel will achieve two more strategic goals:
- it will considerably shorten the distance from the Aegean Sea to the Danube Bridge 2 at Vidin – Kalafat by about 100 km and
- will provide an alternative for diminishing the intense traffic on Hemus Motorway in the Botevgrad – Sofia section.
- The alignment of national road II-81 Sofia – Petrohan – Berkovitsa – Montana – Lom provides for the shortest distance between Sofia and Montana and from there by road I-1 /E-79/ to Vidin (Danube Bridge).
- The Petrohan Tunnel project is relevant also in the context of Pan-European Transport Corridor No. 4.
A public procurement will be launched at the end of May 2018 for prefeasibility study of national road II-81 Sofia – Petrohan – Berkovitsa – Montana. The project calls for an in-depth pre-investment studies in which the following aspects shall be investigated and motivated:
- The transport traffic to be attracted by the new alignment, based on which the road width will be determined;
- The funds needed as well as future costs for maintenance of both the road and the road structures;
- Comparative analysis of the new alignment with the currently existing route, including investments for construction and maintenance costs. The most viable option for the alignment will be based on an in-depth technical and economic analysis.
- 2019-2020Planning
In August 2019, the Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) concluded a contract for “Preparation of a pre-investment study for a route in the direction Montana – Sofia with a tunnel under Petrohan”. One of the main issues to be clarified in the study is the research into the car traffic that would use this direction in the hypothesis of building a tunnel facility under the Petrohan pass. The design speed and the road gauge shall be determined on the basis of the analysis carried out.
According to the Contract, the period for the execution of the pre-investment study is 180 calendar days. The implementation of the study activities shall be carried out in two stages in accordance with the design specification as follows: a first stage of 160 calendar days and a second stage of 20 calendar days.
Within the agreed deadline, the contractor prepared the pre-investment study for an optimised route with a tunnel passage under the Petrohan pass and submitted it to the Contracting Authority at the end of January 2020. Currently, a full review of all parts of the project is being carried out by experts of the RIA. The development of the first interim stage of the contract is soon to be considered and adopted by the Expert Technical and Economic Council (ETEC) of the Agency. The ETEC meeting will decide on the cost-effectiveness of building a tunnel under Petrohan and recommend an appropriate option for development in the next design phase.
After the adoption of the development by the ETEC and the final submission of the pre-investment study, the Road Infrastructure Agency will take action to carry out the procedures required by the Bulgarian legislation under the Environmental Protection Act, which will be the subject of another public procurement.
- 07.12.2020Planning
After the conducted Expert Technical and Economic Council (ETEC) of the Agency and the reviewing of the pre-investment study, of all three presented option for a tunnel passage under the Petrohan pass, the Council accepted the light blue variant with total length of 84 km and a 6845 m tunnel. This variant has an option to be realized a cross section of 20 m, including two lanes and a median strip with design speed of 90 km/h. After the review the Council also reported that this trace will have the least effect on the environment.
- 09.03.2021Planning
RIA presented the accepted trace in front of the competent environmental authority in Bulgaria for appointing the necessary procedure in accordance with the requirements of the current environmental regulatory framework. The Environmental authorities will appoint the proper procedure which will likely to be Environmental impact assessment of the project, because of the scope of the pre-investment study.
Upon assignment of RIA, after a public procurement, a pre-investment study was made for a route in the direction "Montana - Sofia" with a tunnel under Petrohan. The value of the design contract is EUR 168,726 incl. VAT. The contract has been completed and fully paid with funding from the national budget.
The total cost will be determined after having detailed technical design and bill of quantities.
secured
The total cost will be determined after having detailed technical design and bill of quantities. No funds are secured at this stage.