2024-08-21 09:30:33
This and a bridge at “Sukhodol” draws a new path for the western arc – different from the one launched by API, MRRD and the municipality in June
A new project to unclog the big Sofia traffic jam on “Tsar Boris III” boulevard and the surrounding area unexpectedly “broke” in the midst of the political crisis surrounding official power and early voting.
On his way to the press conference on Tuesday morning, at which he called for the resignation of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and in this way unblocking the road to the October elections, Boyko Borisov also brought out a project to solve the transport woes in the capital.
The GERB leader said that in the morning he spent an hour and a half in a traffic jam along the western arc of the Sofia ring road. He used the time to sketch how the road should be widened in this part and
even costing the project
Borisov hastily presented his idea to the reporters who came to learn the position of GERB on the crisis after the president’s refusal to sign a decree for the “Grancharova-Kozhareva” cabinet. He did not fail to add that he did not call about his idea either to the Road Agency or to the regional mayor of “Poduyane” Kristiyan Hristov from PP-DB-SS, whose mother Violeta Koritarova is now acting regional minister.
In this part, the ring road has been narrowing and congested for years. After the extension of the southern arc to the gauges of a highway, which reached the “Boyana” residence, the road crosses “Tsar Boris Treti” boulevard as a four-lane street and reaches in this form all the way to the “Lyulin” residential area, where it turns into a highway again.
Borisov’s idea is to make a tunnel in the area of the New Bulgarian University with the help of the moles that dig underground parts of the subway. This will bring in the intense movement below.
“I made a sketch of how to enter with a tunnel, here at “Bila”, to exit at AONSU, so that the two moles of the metro pass each other. After that, a bridge will be built that will take the traffic to the “Sukhodol” area, he said.
“The bridge and the tunnel are no longer than the “Hemus” and the “Brussels” bridge (ed. – which leads to the airport). From there we will exit to Suhodol and join the Lyulin highway. And we will make Sofia’s ring”, Borisov further explained to the political reporters. All this would take a year and a half.
This avoids the creation of a complex road junction in “Kniazhevo”, where the ring road intersects with “Tsar Boris III” Blvd. In addition
ambulances will have quick access to the future National Children’s Hospital, which will be built in “Gorna Banya”.
Borisov promised to talk more about his idea in the upcoming election campaign.
So far, it is totally at odds with the conceptual project launched in June, prepared by a joint working group between the API, the Ministry of Planning and Development and the Metropolitan Municipality. It is also not clear what happens to the other two problematic kilometers of the western arc between “Tsar Boris III” and the “Boyana” residence, on which traffic jams also form every working day.
The concept project of the municipality and the Ministry of Planning and Development envisages that the extension of the western arc will begin with a small section from the beginning of the Struma highway to the roundabout on Zapadna Tangenta Blvd., thus ensuring a connection from the highway to the future National Children’s Hospital.
This section will reach “President Lincoln” boulevard, crossing the buffer parking lot of the “Mizia” metro station and practically has nothing to do with the current route of the ring road, which passes through “Sukhodol”. It was chosen because the majority of the terrain is municipal property and represents inter-block spaces in “Ovcha Kupel”.
The alienating procedures for now
they have not started because there is no detailed development plan. Only when it is drawn up will assessments of benefits be made.
The remaining part of the extension of the western arc is divided into two main subsections – from “Boyana” to “Tsar Boris III” boulevard and from there to the beginning of the small section. In the most advanced phase at the moment is the extension from “Boyana” to the boulevard. In mid-June, an announcement of the Capital Municipality was published in the “State Gazette” that the PUP and amendment of the street regulation plan of the affected areas were ready. Two weeks ago, the one-month deadline for written objections, proposals and requests expired.
The changes affect the tram lines along “Tsar Boris III”, which according to the project will remain at ground level, and the various lanes of the ring road will pass below and above them. The extension will follow the current route of the ring road in this part of it, and on both sides it is full of built-up areas – gas stations, low-rise buildings, garages, shops and warehouses. They will have to alienate themselves.
The rest of the western arc has a detailed development plan approved by the Ministry of Planning and Development, but assessments are still being made for the terrain.
However, a large part of the residents of “Knyazhevo” do not agree at all with “Tsar Boris III” boulevard, because they fear that the complex intersection will increase the traffic through their neighborhood even more. Boyko Borisov’s idea is practically in their favor, but the issue of these two kilometers, without which the capital will not have a complete highway ring, remains unresolved.