The four-lane Autostrada Transylvania will be the largest motorway in Europe.

The four-lane Autostrada Transylvania will be the largest motorway in Europe.

 The motorway will connect Brasov, Fagaras, Sighisoara, Targu Mures, Cluj-Napoca, Zalau and Oradea.

The motorway will connect Brasov, Fagaras, Sighisoara, Targu Mures, Cluj-Napoca, Zalau and Oradea.

 The Autostrada Transylvania is being designed and constructed by prime contractor Betcel International and sub-contractor Enka Insaat ve Sanayi.

The Autostrada Transylvania is being designed and constructed by prime contractor Betcel International and sub-contractor Enka Insaat ve Sanayi.

The four-lane Autostrada Transylvania will be the largest motorway in Europe. It will extend 258 miles from Brasov in central Romania to Oradea on the country’s border with Hungary. It is also known as the Romanian Motorway or Transylvania Motorway. Autostrada Transylvania will be owned and operated by the Romanian Government.

The motorway will connect Brasov, Fagaras, Sighisoara, Targu Mures, Cluj-Napoca, Zalau and Oradea. The journey time from Budapest to Brasov will be reduced by six hours and the motorway will boost trade and tourism. It could become the preferred route between the Black Sea and Western Europe. The project will cost about $2.2bn and is expected to be completed by 2013.

Contractors

The Autostrada Transylvania is being designed and constructed by its prime contractor, US-based Betcel International, and sub-contractor Enka Insaat ve Sanayi of Turkey. The scope of work includes 90 million m3 of excavation, 64 million m3 of backfill, 1.9 million m3 of concrete, 7.3 million m3 of sub-base and 3.8mt of asphalt and more than 32km of bridges and viaducts.

The project

The project is broadly categorised into three sections and further classified into eight segments: 1A Brasov (Cristian)-Fagaras, 1B Fagaras-Sighisoara, 1C Sighisoara-Targu Mures (Ogra), 2A Targu Mures (Ogra)-Campia Turzii, 2B Campia Turzii-Cluj-Napoca Vest (Gilau), 3A Cluj-Napoca Vest (Gilau)-Mihailesti, 3B Mihailesti-Suplacu de Barcau and 3C Suplacu de Barcau-Bors.

Segments 1A, 1B and 1C are scheduled for completion in December 2013. The second section, which includes 2A and 2B, is expected to be complete by December 2010.

The third section, which encompasses 3A and 3B, is scheduled for completion by December 2010, while 3C is expected to be complete by February 2010.

Costs and financing

“The journey time from Budapest to Brasov will be reduced by six hours.”

The Autostrada Transylvania’s first section will cost €221.21m, while segment 1B will cost €278.42m. Segment 1C will cost €343.94m.

Segment 2A will cost €143.17m, segment 2B will cost about €330.4m and segment 3A will cost €148.983m. About €488.59m will be spent on segment 3B, while segment 3C will cost about €245.34m. The Government of Romania is financing the project.

Construction

Construction began on 16 June 2004, on segments 2B and 3C. The project achieved its first major milestone in November 2009 when 42km of segment 2B was completed. The segment was inaugurated and opened to traffic in December 2009. The remaining portion of 2B was inaugurated and opened to traffic on 13 November 2010.

For segment 1A POYRY is the designer and JV Scetauroute Route Egis / Egis BCEOM (France) is the consultant. The company has provided a 24-month warranty for segment 1A.

Segment 1B will be 52km long. JV Egis Route Scetauroute / BCEOM (France) will design the segment. Segment 1C will be 56km long. The designer will be Search Corporation SRL and the consultant will be JV Egis Route Scetauroute / BCEOM (France).

The length of segment 2A will be 36km. IPTANA and JV Egis Route Scetauroute / BCEOM (France) will be the designer and consultant respectively. Segment 3A will be 24km long. Search Corporation SRL and JV Egis Route Scetauroute / BCEOM (France) will be the designer and consultant respectively.

“The project will cost about $2.2bn and is expected to be completed by 2013.”

Segment 3B will be 76km long. IPTANA will be the designer and JV Egis Route Scetauroute / BCEOM (France) will be the consultant. Segment 3C will be 64km long. Bechtel International and SC IPTANA and JV Egis Route Scetauroute / BCEOM (France) are the designer and consultant respectively. As of the 8 January 2011, the segment 3C was 35.53% complete.

Besides constructing a four-lane highway, the work will involve building 300 bridges, 73 overpasses and 19 interchanges.

During excavations 14 archaeological teams unearthed a 6,500-year-old settlement and 3,300-year-old coloured pottery.

Bridge construction

Construction of a 1km-long, 23m-high viaduct across the Aries River began in June 2007 and was completed in August 2009. It is the largest viaduct in the 2B segment. About 192 U-beams weighing about 176t each were placed during the work.

The 3C segment, which includes 43 structures such as bridges and overpasses, has been restarted in four locations. The project’s largest viaduct will be constructed in segment 3C.

Fourteen of the 30 bridges and viaducts in segment 2B were completed by August 2009. The remaining viaducts are at various stages of construction. About 544 U-beams of 160t each and 240 T-beams of 16t each were placed during the work. A further 45 structures (16 viaducts, 14 bridges, eight overpasses and seven portals) will be included in the segment.