Corridor 8 through Bulgaria released into traffic

The first highway traffic which passes across the whole country, from west to east, linking the capital of Sofia and Burgas at the Black Sea was released in Bulgaria. The construction of 360 km of the highway began in 1970's, but was interrupted several times due to lack of money.

The new route is a part of the "European corridor eight 'which connects the Adriatic and the Black Sea.

The project was re-launched with the support of the European Union in 2004 with the objective to complete in 2009, but then the construction of section of a hundred kilometers was postponed.

Bulgaria, which has only about 400 km of highways, relies on EU funds in order to rehabilitate badly maintained roads. Two-thirds of its 19,000 km of roads should be renovated, the Government of Bulgaria announced.