The “Struma” highway will pass entirely outside the Kresne gorge. This became clear after the Road Infrastructure Agency (API) announced that it had announced a public order for the study of new routes and the design of a second lane in the direction from Sofia to the Tower.
In the opposite direction, the contracts for the construction of the route were signed during the interim government of Rumen Radev.
The decision of the road agency comes after the European Commission gave the green light for the construction of the eastern lane in the direction from Sofia to the Tower in February.
The government of Boyko Borisov had decided that the route towards the Greek border would pass along the now existing road through the Kresnen Gorge. This caused protests by environmental organizations and local people. From the order announced now, it is clear that this road will not be used as a highway, but only for serving the needs of the local population.
The new order of API envisages that “Struma” will “climb” over the Kresnen gorge in both directions. This will certainly delay the implementation of the project and it will not be until 2030 that the highway, which was promised to be ready for the 2004 Athens Olympics, will
get up
The section through the Kresnen gorge is the only one not built from the Struma highway, which has been disputed for years.
Order for BGN 1 million.
The announced public order is for the development of a pre-investment study and design of the route from the “Struma” highway in the direction of Sofia – Kulata, which passes outside the Kresna gorge.
The deadline for submitting offers is April 29, 2024
The estimated value of the order is BGN 1 million excluding VAT. The funds are from the republican budget.
The selected contractor will have to prepare feasibility studies to ensure the movement of cars to the Greek border in two directions. One is a duplicate two-way route on the first-class road outside the Kresnen gorge, and the other is the right lane of the Struma highway (lot 3.2) outside the gorge. The estimated length of each of the two routes is between 20 – 25 km, and they will pass near Simitli, Cherniche and Kresna.
The pre-project duplicating route of road I-1 will tentatively start north of the “Simitli” road junction, where the constructed lot 3.1 ends – the Blagoevgrad – Krupnik section, and its end will be at the “Kresna” road junction, where the commissioned lot 3.3 begins Kresna – Sandanski.
The pre-project right lane of the Struma highway, lot 3.2, will start at the Simitli junction, and its end will be at the Kresna bypass, which is part of the lot 3.2 project.
The design will take half a year
The deadline for the implementation of the pre-investment study and design is 180 calendar days and will be carried out in three stages.
The first will start from the date of signing the contract and will include the time to prepare a road safety impact assessment and submit the development to the API.
The second stage will be from the date of acceptance of the road safety impact assessment report and will include the time for the preparation of the pre-investment study with design and delivery of the development.
In the second stage is the examination and acceptance of the development (variant solutions) by the Expert Technical and Economic Council. Based on the developed alternative solutions for the two routes, the Contracting Authority will carry out the relevant environmental procedures.
In the third stage is the handing over of the pre-project development, presenting the engineering-geological and hydrogeological survey carried out on the routes approved by the competent authority for the environment and water, which must be implemented in the “Conceptual project” phase.
Order turtles and smokies
The road agency also announced a public contract for monitoring four types of reptiles in the section of the first-class road I-1 (E-79) through the Kresnen Gorge. The study will cover the spiny and spiny-tailed turtles, striped and leopard smoky, which are subject to conservation in the Kresna-Ilindenci habitats protected area.
The deadline for submitting offers is also April 29, 2024. The indicative value is BGN 400,000 without VAT and the funds are provided by the republican budget.
The research will be conducted in three periods – spring, summer and autumn.
Based on the data from the monitoring of the populations of the different species of reptiles, the number of populations in the area of E-79 will be analyzed, the effectiveness of the facilities for mitigating the negative effects on the fauna will be evaluated, etc. The monitoring will be carried out for a period of 4 years.
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