Romanian television station Antena 1 reported from the Friendship Bridge and interviewed Bulgarian journalist Vladimir Mitev to find out how Bulgarian authorities and media view the problem of traffic jams on the Friendship Bridge caused by renovation work on the Bulgarian side, which will last until the summer of 2026
Antena 1, Observator, 29 June 2025
This text is a transcript of a video that Antena 1 kindly shared with readers of the Romanian-Bulgarian blog The Bridge of Friendship, in the hope that it will be useful to its readers.
TV host:
The road to Greece is blocked on the Friendship Bridge, as you have already seen, and the scenario repeats itself every day. The first Romanians who set off for Greece with their children for the holidays were stuck there for up to six hours. The blame lies with the repair work being carried out by our Bulgarian neighbours.
Our authorities expect the situation to get even worse during the high season, so they recommend using alternative routes, of course. Teams of Antena 1’s emission Observator have checked the entire situation.
The transcribed video material can be followed with autogenerated subtitles in English here:
Announcer:
The horns are blaring. This is how the long-awaited holiday begins, with a test of patience. There is roadwork on the Bulgarian side of the Friendship Bridge in Giurgiu, and traffic is moving in a single lane, alternating with traffic lights.
Romanian driver:
About 40 minutes. Less than a kilometre. Yes, less than a kilometre.
Reporter:
How do you feel about it?
Romanian driver:
Wonderful.
Reporter:
Are you going on holiday?
Another Romanian driver:
We’ll try to leave if we can. If we were spending money in Bulgaria, it would be worth the traffic. But we’re crossing into Greece.
You can only do it on purpose every summer. You can’t do it in March, April, May. When do you do it? June, July, August.
Announcer:
During this period, the waiting time at the Giurgiu border crossing was 5-6 hours.
Reporter:
The Cât Stau pe Pod app (How Much do I Stay at the Bridge app) was developed by a Romanian who had been stuck in such a queue. With its help, we can see in real time how long it takes to cross into Bulgaria. At the moment, the waiting time is 107 minutes. Here we can also see the best times to go through customs.
According to reports from drivers, the shortest waiting time is between 3 and 4 in the morning. A quarter of an hour. The afternoon hours are busy and it would be best to avoid them.
Last week alone, over 35,000 vehicles crossed the bridge from Giurgiu to Bulgaria.
Bogdan Cotârlici, head of communications at CNAIR:
The heaviest traffic leaving the country is on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The best and most recommended day to leave is Monday.
Announcer:
The Romanian authorities recommend alternative routes. The Calafat bridge or the Negru, Vodă and Vama Veche crossing points would mean a fairly long detour for those travelling to Greece. The shortest options in terms of kilometres are via Turnu Măgurele and Zimnicea, but we may lose time waiting for the ferry.
In theory, there are only a few trips per day, but the authorities add more if it gets crowded. The crossing costs 60 lei for a car and 10 lei per person.
Romanian driver:
The detour in kilometres is about the same time it would take us otherwise.
Announcer:
Work on the bridge is scheduled to last until next year. The authorities expect queues to be even longer during the peak season.
Bogdan Cotârlici, head of communications at CNAIR:
We expect traffic to be heavy throughout the summer, both on the road into the country and on the road out towards Bulgaria.
Announcer:
A project for a second bridge, which would link Giurgiu and Ruse, is currently undergoing a feasibility study, with construction scheduled to begin in 2027.
There are two alternatives to the Bulgarian coast: Negru Vodă and Călărași by ferry. Here, ferries run every 15 minutes, and the crossing takes only 20 minutes.
Today, we repeated the experiment to see how long it takes for those leaving Bucharest on holiday to reach the Giurgiu customs office.
Bogdan Dinu:
It’s 10 o’clock, we’re getting ready to leave for Ruse, Bulgaria. I checked the traffic apps. For the 94 kilometres we have to travel, it says it will take an hour and 43 minutes.
I say we’ll see, we’re just setting off. Come on, let’s go! It’s 10:50. The less hard part is over, we managed to get out of Bucharest. Now we’re heading towards Giurgiu and then towards the Friendship Bridge.
Announcer:
Everyone is waiting at the customs office, just like last year.
Romanian driver:
I will manage to have a vacation. It’s done (the renovation and queues – note of the editor) for strategic reasons, so people don’t go to Greece, but go to Bulgaria.
Another Romanian driver:
(Renovation) It’s happening at the worst possible time, instead of waiting until after the summer season.
Bogdan Dinu:
It’s 12:30 p.m., we’re still stuck here, people are enjoying the scenery because there’s nothing else to do.
Announcer:
After a three-hour journey, including an hour spent on the Friendship Bridge, the Observator team managed to reach Bulgaria.
Producer:
Ultimately, no journey is easy for Romanian tourists, and the one to Bulgaria is even less so, which is hardly surprising. We are relying on a bridge built 71 years ago. I would now like to invite our guests, Ionel Scrioșteanu, State Secretary at the Ministry of Transport, Ionuț Ciura, Executive Director of the Pro-Infrastructure Association, and journalist Greta Neagu, who covers this field on a daily basis, to join us for a discussion on this topic.
Thank you all for accepting our invitation. But before we begin, I would like to invite you to join us in Ruse, where my colleague Bogdan Dinu has arrived late. He is not alone. He is accompanied by Bulgarian journalist Vladimir Mitev. Hello, Bogdan! Hello, Vladimir! We are listening!
Bogdan Dinu:
Hello, Florin! You are right to say that we arrived late because it took us an hour to cross the bridge. I am here with Vladimir Mitev, a Bulgarian journalist.
Hello and thank you! Not just any Bulgarian journalist, but one from (Romanian-Bulgarian website – editor’s note) the Bridge of Friendship. I would like to hear your views on how the authorities in Sofia see this situation, these works, and how the Bulgarian press sees it.
Vladimir Mitev:
For us (in Ruse and Bulgaria) it is quite an important issue, especially now that summer is here. Of course, the renovations taking place on the Friendship Bridge are very important for people travelling to and from Bulgaria. The subject is receiving a lot of attention and the Road Infrastructure Agency, which is responsible for the renovations, regularly issues press releases, including in English, saying that everything is going according to plan for the time being. And so certain steps are being taken to facilitate traffic, for example, separating cars from trucks and so on.
I hope I am not mistaken. What is the deadline according to the schedule?
The renovation is planned to be completed by the summer of 2026.
Okay, but all this time our drivers, on social media and elsewhere, keep saying that they see at most two or three workers on the site at any given time. And this situation keeps repeating itself. How do you see it, the Bulgarian press?
We, of course, work with the information we receive from the authorities. Sometimes visits are also made by representatives of the Bulgarian government. So far, I am not aware of any announcements that something is going slowly or badly. For now, the press releases seem positive.
Okay, but maybe these visits have the potential to speed things up, to do something to speed up the work on the part of the authorities in Sofia?
I think that the pressure coming, in my opinion, not only from Romania but also, for example, from Bulgarian transporters and so on, matters and has an effect.
But it must also be said that Bulgaria has had certain ideas and proposals, for example, to open a ferry between Ruse and Giurgiu. And from the Bulgarian point of view, if I understand correctly, more can be done for the infrastructure linking Bulgaria and Romania. We see that car and truck traffic has increased, including this year, between January and May 2025, with 90,000 more cars and trucks crossing the Friendship Bridge (than in the same period last year – editor’s note).
So, it is clear that it is not just the renovation that is causing or creating problems. In general, the infrastructure needs to be significantly improved. We in Romania have had a somewhat unfortunate experience with this lack of seriousness, let’s call it that, on the part of workers in quite a few infrastructure construction projects. How is it in Bulgaria? How is this construction site viewed and, I don’t know, how does the Bulgarian press see it all?
In my opinion, most of the attention on the renovation comes from the local press. And, of course, they report on how the renovation is going, but I haven’t seen that much attention at the national level. What is working, as I said, is that everything is going according to plan. That’s what the press release says, that’s how the information is shared.
Everything is according to plan, everything is on schedule, and we hope that in the summer of 2026, or maybe even earlier, we will be able to enjoy this stadium in all its glory and power. Thank you very much, Vladimir Mitev! Thank you very much!
We’re back with you in the studio!
Photo: Vladimir Mitev speaks to Antena 1 at the entrance of the border point Danube Bridge in Ruse (source: YouTube)
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