The governor of the Ruse region, Dragomir Draganov, says that at the end of April 2025 and the beginning of May 2025, traffic on the Danube Bridge will be temporarily suspended at short intervals so that the second phase of the Danube Bridge renovation can be carried out. He explains that the so-called virtual queue – the obligation for lorries to wait in car parks near the Danube Bridge in order to enter Romania – can be reintroduced if traffic is too heavy. He complained about the lack of action on the part of the Romanian authorities regarding the opening of the Ruse-Giurgiu ferry. He said that the tests of the online payment system for bridge tolls for lorries are being carried out and that it will be operational by March 2025. He also said that the various authorities whose teams were stationed at the border crossing would leave the border crossing and be stationed in zones in a perimeter of 30 km from the border in three directions – towards Silistra, Varna and Veliko Tarnovo. As for the abolition of the bridge toll for cars, his proposal was supported by the director of the National Revenue Agency, but a government decision is needed to implement it. And now various calculations have to be made, even in the absence of a state budget for 2025.
The press conference where he made these announcement can be followed with English subtitles here:
Dragomir Draganov, governor of Ruse region:
This virtual queue has not existed since Saturday (4 January 2025). It will be restored in case of a possible increase in heavy goods vehicle traffic on the Danube Bridge through Ruse and Giurgiu. Let’s hope that there will be sufficient capacity on the Danube Bridge after the start of the renovation, which will start on 8 January 2025 at 8am!
The right lane in the direction of Romania will be closed. Traffic on the bridge will be in the left lane in the direction of Romania. There will be traffic regulators. There will be border police. There will be customs officials who will indicate what to do in the same way as the crossing on the Bulgarian side and on the Romanian side was done until 20 December 2024.
Cars and lorries will be allowed through within 7 minutes in one direction. After 7 minutes, cars and heavy goods vehicles will be able to cross the bridge in the other direction.
Hopefully this week and next week the trucking companies will get their permits out as most of them expire in December. So in January with the new permits, which are valid for one year, they will be able to increase HGV traffic again.
As I said, I hope that the capacity in the context of the renewed renovation of the bridge will be increased by at least 50%, which will allow more traffic to pass over it, because we have now fully joined the Schengen area. As you all know, there will be no checking of documents and identity cards. Only the bridge toll will be paid, which for cars can be paid online, and for heavy goods vehicles, this system is currently being worked out so that they can also pay this toll online. But at the moment the toll is paid by card or by cash.
We are also facing the issue of the removal of many of the structures that are at the border crossing – the toll system, currently the National Revenue Agency (the Bulgarian tax service) has a presence there. The Road Infrastructure Agency and all the other institutions are there. The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency is also there.
The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency’s disinfection facilities are currently operating. For such facilities to work, the speed of heavy goods vehicles passing through them must be between 5 and 10 km, so that this disinfection can be effective. That is why we are preparing a meeting this week with the institutions concerned, where we will be able to make a new traffic organisation so that the small roundabout on Bulgaria Avenue can be used to go directly to the border crossing, rather than going along Tutrakan Avenue.
However, this must be coordinated with the Road Infrastructure Agency, with the Ministry of the Interior, so that we can close this road and not de facto impede the throughput of the companies that pass along Tutrakan Avenue. This arrangement must be made in coordination with the relevant institutions.
What lies ahead for the bridge?
When the right-hand carriageway in the direction of Romania is closed from 8 January 2025, the kerbs will be removed first, the fencing will be removed, and the milling of the old asphalt surface will begin. Then the old panels will be removed. The only inconvenience that will arise that many of you are wondering about is how long the repairs will take.
It is anticipated that work on the second 413 metres will be completed in early May 2025. The second section will be completed by May 15 at the latest. One of the difficulties in working on it is that in this section, on the right-hand side, there are many cables of different institutions. Moving these cables to be able to carry out the complete repair will create an inconvenience. The entire cable system is on the right-hand side of the bridge towards Romania. Until now, the left lane did not have this complication.
Another complication is the need to join the left finished section and the right finished section. We are planning to suspend traffic on the Danube Bridge at the end of April and the beginning of May for a certain period of time. This will be necessary in order to be able to join the two sections on the left-hand side and on the right-hand side. This closure must be minimal in time and for the convenience of the vehicles themselves. However, it must be known from the outset that there will be such a closure, and not be said at the last minute. That being the case, the contractor is ready to carry out the repairs.
All the problems that arose during the repair of the first section have been dealt with. We hope that for the second section the work will be faster. Because the problems that we noticed have already been solved. The only two new repair problems in the second section are the relocation of the cable system and the joining of the two sections. These will take additional time. I hope that the whole section will be completed in mid-May, which will allow cars and trucks to cross both sections of the Danube Bridge.
It is necessary to lay an insulation coating. Replace the old panels. New panels to be installed. Lay asphalt coating. Railings to be installed. To put in street lighting. To lay the cables. To lay the markings. And to commission the second section. The company is ready to do it. The funds have been secured. The weather needs to be right so that work can be done while it is daylight.
The railway line passes right under the section to be repaired and the workers have to do their work very carefully. Between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., the repair work will be scaled back to ensure the safety of the train sets on the lower level of the Danube Bridge, because you know that the bridge is two storeys high. The first deck is for rail traffic. The second is for cars and heavy goods vehicles. So the repair work must be more carefully carried out in relation to the safety of moving vehicles.
The lane width for through traffic to the 413 m section will be reduced by 20 cm. This means that motorists travelling along the new section must be more careful and drive at a certain speed because it is important, especially for heavy trucks with trailers, to drive along the exact section to avoid accidents. One such accident could close the entire bridge. From now on, I urge drivers to be careful when driving through this section. The inconvenience in this case is that despite the repairs, there will be no stoppage of vehicular traffic during the period when the bridge is clear for through traffic. Hopefully we won’t have a large congregation of heavy goods vehicles. After 20 January 2025, we will see what the situation is and then appropriate measures can be taken.
That is what I would like to ask you about. Do you already have any forecasts for heavy goods traffic. The lorries will pass much more quickly because there will be no customs check, no weighing on a scale and no border check. Will the virtual queue be restored in this situation? Have you discussed this with the local administration?
You know very well that the section of the border crossing on the Bulgarian side where the scales are is about 150 metres and about 12 to 14 heavy goods vehicles can gather there. The interval for their passage before, when we were not in Schengen, was 7 minutes. It used to take at least 4-5 minutes to process the paperwork for one lorry.
This section will now be abolished. There will only be a ‘bridge’ fee, which takes about 40-50 seconds. So instead of 14-15 vehicles, now twice as many vehicles will be passing. In seven minutes, we expect about 30 cars to pass. This will relieve traffic tremendously.
I hope that the virtual queue (associated with waiting in one of the truck parking lots before the Danube Bridge – ed.) will not exist. But this depends on the heavy goods vehicle traffic. In 2024, 496 000 heavy goods vehicles passed from Bulgaria towards Romania and approximately the same number vice versa. In the direction of Romania, 1 million cars passed, and another 1 million cars passed in the direction of Bulgaria.
You know very well that our section of the border crossing, where the scales are – up to the repair of the bridge – is about 150 metres and about 12 to 14 heavy goods vehicles can gather there. In the 7-minute crossing time on the bridge, 12 HGVs were crossing earlier when we were not in Schengen. The processing of documents for one truck at the border crossing took a minimum of 4 to 5 minutes.
Once we are in the Schengen area, this traffic is expected to increase by 20-30%. This means that there may be a need for a virtual queue. According to information from the Customs Agency, its director, Mr Georgi Dimov, says that all the border crossing points on the territory of Bulgaria are designed for the passage of about 3 million vehicles a year. Currently, about 4.5 million vehicles pass through – i.e. 1.5 times more. By 2030, more than 10 million cars will pass through our border crossings. This means that our country needs to invest heavily in the border crossings at the border with Northern Macedonia and Serbia, which are not Schengen Member States.
Let me ask an internal departmental question. Vehicle crossings are on the increase. “Is the Danube Bridge now becoming a NATO site. And if it has, should NATO troops also appear? How will this happen?
You have said that there is a 1 km route to the ferry border crossings in Giurgiu, which there is no one to asphalt. Why is nothing happening on this? Do you not want to spoil your friendship with your neighbours?
Something needs to happen for us to have a concrete answer. You said that it is not clear when and why the bridge should be closed. This ferry between Rousse and Giurgiu, which is ready and able to function, could help at such a time, could it not?
You are extremely right. Everything that has been done on the Bulgarian side is obvious. Within a week, we can restore this ferry connection. The problem lies with our friends in Romania. At the moment, their government has resigned as well. There will be a second presidential election. There has been no decision by the Romanian Council of Ministers on how to approach this case. We hope that the new Romanian Government and the new Minister for Transport will take this matter seriously so that we can alleviate heavy goods vehicle traffic enormously if necessary in connection with the expected 20-30% increase in traffic after Schengen accession. This will allow between 400 and 500 vehicles per day to travel one way on the ferry.
This matter is exclusively the responsibility of the Romanian Government. We have met with the prefecture of Giurgiu, with the county council, with the mayor of Giurgiu. But these institutions are at regional level. We need the intervention of institutions that are at ministerial level and for the Romanian Parliament. We have raised this issue. Our ministerial colleagues are working, but we do not seem to be getting that understanding from the other side.
Both our drivers and Romanian drivers are suffering from this. We are talking about heavy goods vehicles, because the ferry will be for heavy goods vehicles only.
If I may ask you a second question relating to the parking situation before the Danube Bridge. We watched a report on Nova TV in which a driver refused to enter and take a number in this virtual queue and was even threatened with the police. Your check has established that there is no such thing. Who are we to believe?
Hundreds of drivers are going through at the moment and they all have a different opinion. Maybe with the guy they tested there was such a case, but the multitude of drivers do not confirm this position. There may have been such a case. So both versions are true. But our examination — Mr. Georgiev next to me was also there on Sunday and I was there the next day. We saw that there was no such thing.
Since Saturday after a press conference on my orders and with the agreement of Chief Commissioner Kozhuharov the car has been moved, there is no such patrol there anymore and there is no need for such omissions (most likely Dragomir Draganov to a civil car spotted in the report of Nova TV, which was standing at the entrance towards the former crossing point, whose people tell trucks that they need to wait at the virtual queue and pay for that, instead of going directly on to the Danube Bridge). It is free to pass. If there was such a thing we apologize, although we have no fault for the inconvenience of that sense.
Do you have to apologize? They said who should apologize.
We apologize on their behalf. If you accept.
Are these institutions that are going to be moved from the border crossing to the bridge going to be in a special place or where everybody is generally?
On the contrary. We had a meeting with the leadership of Ruse municipality, with the leadership of Ivanovo municipality. The teams will be deployed within a 30 km zone, including in the direction of Silistra, in the direction of Varna and in the direction of Tarnovo – because the traffic from the border crossing branches off in three directions. It is now much easier for these institutions to be within the border checkpoint and, once they leave the border checkpoint, to immediately go in different directions. This will place an additional burden on the Customs Agency and the Road Infrastructure Agency and the Road Administration. They should place their teams on the three main roads – to Silistra, to Varna and to Veliko Tarnovo.
So we will have a discussion about where these teams should be deployed so that their work can be carried out. But we have a deadline within these six months to move them.
Today we were at the border crossing. De facto all the booths were emptied by customs officers from the border police. All vehicles were passing unhindered. Only in the direction of Romania and in the direction of Bulgaria was there a ‘bridge’ charge, which for carriage drivers travelling from Romania to Bulgaria is 3 euro and from Bulgaria to Romania is 2 euro.
How long and at what time will the Danube Bridge be closed in April or May? Will it be at night?
Within maybe 2-3 hours, which will not be a problem. Then these panels will be replaced. It will not be round the clock, it will not be weeks. Within 2-3 hours traffic will be stopped so the two types of panels can be soldered. And we need this construction to harden.
We’ll make it so that it’s during those periods where there’s less traffic. Not at peak times, but when there’s less traffic that will be possible. It is an inconvenience, and as the member said, if we run a ferry as well, it won’t be felt by trucking companies that carry heavy loads.
When will an online system for paying the bridge toll for heavy goods vehicles be introduced?
It is being tested at the moment. The Ministry of Transport told me that within a few months to March, it will be operational.
What happened to your proposal to abolish tolls for cars? Has it been discussed yet?
This week, we have a meeting within the working group in the Council of Ministers and we will find out if this proposal is foreseen. It has to be agreed in connection with the adoption of the new budget. All of this needs to be agreed – what would be the losses or the revenues from such a decision, bearing in mind that over 1 million cars cross into Romania every year and pay a 2 euro charge. That is 2 million euro in revenue for our country. This revenue must be compensated for in some adequate way.
My proposal was to raise the toll for heavy goods vehicles from 37 euro to 40 euro and thus, in effect, to keep the revenue in the state coffers. That was our proposal, which was accepted by Mr Spetsov, who is the head of the fiscal service, and by other colleagues. However, a decision by the Council of Ministers and the National Assembly is needed. Some legal regulations need to be changed in the sense that in adopting Schengen they want some additional things in the laws also on road infrastructure and in online payment. In some other countries, they are putting these devices where just by approaching the card, the barrier is raised because 2 euro or 3 euro is a very small amount and you do not need to have a PIN to pay. You just zoom in on the card and pay. And if you have 2 euros, you can also put the 2 euros on that device, the receipt comes out and the barrier is raised. This has been done in other countries, it could be implemented here. Then it will also free up jobs at the border crossing and we will have unimpeded passage without any manpower.
Photo: The Friendship Bridge at Ruse-Giurgiu (source: YouTube)
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