2024-09-09 10:10:29
Bad conditions in the tunnels of the main road E-79 between Simitli and Kresna. This is what viewers signal. Half of the lighting fixtures in the old “Railway” tunnel and “Crooked Tunnel” are not lit and their condition has been like this for more than a year. Due to the half-dark tunnels, there have been several accidents this summer.
Lyuben Kushev from Blagoevgrad hit a dog in the “Zheleznitsa” tunnel. It says that the lack of lighting contributed to the accident and significantly increased the risk of more serious crashes:
“I lost my number there, I hit a dog, I was about to have a terrible accident, I lost my number, I was coming back, I couldn’t find it. It’s absurd, it’s a dungeon… well, how much does it cost to make an additional lighting, not just to replace the light fixtures.”
“This is an international road, a highway, it connects us to Greece, this road has always been very problematic and when we travel we are always under pressure, it is busy and the lighting is disgusting.”
API states that the lack of lighting in the “Zheleznitsa” tunnel on the E-79 is due to the amortized electrical installation that powers it. It has not been overhauled since the facility was built in the 1980s. In order to increase safety, warning signs have been placed, and the speed limit is limited to 60 kilometers per hour, BNT reported.
“I can’t even call this sign a washing of hands or an attempt to pass a meter with the expenses, both with it and without it, everyone can see that there is no lighting inside, explained Georgi Galabov from the Institute of Road Safety. – This cannot be prevented an accident that could be the result of not taking into account a distance that can hardly be seen… they don’t clean the reflectors either, which are the other kind of passive safety infrastructure like restraints so that you don’t get to the wall you can really if becomes an emergency situation and the lighting does not work so that the driver can still see where the gauges of the tunnel itself are.”
Except in the “Zheleznitsa” tunnel, the lighting is also scarce in the so-called “Crooked Tunnel”, the difference is that here there are no signs to warn the drivers. Since the beginning of July, the road agency has been developing a project to replace the lighting in the tunnel under a contract for maintenance and ongoing repair work. They assure that the road maintenance company and the road management will work at an accelerated pace to complete the repairs as soon as possible. But a month later, there are still no results.