- There are 800,000 cars in the capital, but its streets are not built for that many, Mayor Vesil Terziev reminds
- We lose 5 million per day due to traffic jams and breathe 2.5 times more dirty air, GERB calculated
Why is Sofia more congested than ever and getting around now takes hours? Tens of thousands of residents of the capital, as well as the parties in the city’s administration, are asking themselves this question. In addition, key arteries light up in red – the sign on the navigation screen for congestion, no longer only in the morning and evening rush hours, but several times a day.
The reason is clear – there are already more than 800,000 cars, the old infrastructure is not designed for that many. It is being built on several key boulevards and the subway is being completed, explains Mayor Vasil Terziev. And when the objects are released,
traffic will ease
Whether pre-election – 10 days before the vote, or because the problem really escalated, his opposition in the form of GERB tried to convene an extraordinary meeting of the SOS on Thursday to listen to Terziev about traffic. It failed due to lack of quorum.
At least 5 are the blockade points right now.
It’s the first one “Cherni vrah” Blvd. from “Hladilnika” to the ring road. On Wednesday, hundreds of cars and heavy construction equipment were trapped on the Ring Road for more than an hour. Traffic there is a real nightmare because of the construction of Todor Kableshkov Blvd. and Emilian Stanev St., as well as sewerage repairs in the area of Dragalevtsi district. As early as this morning, the traffic will be fully opened in both lanes of T. Blvd. Kableshkov”. Traffic in the area is also controlled by the traffic control center through remote control of the traffic lights, monitoring the traffic in real time, the Metropolitan Municipality explained. For the Dragalevtsi area, a change in organization has been requested so that construction equipment does not pass around the educational institutions in the area during rush hour.
For months, the second neurological point is in the direction of “Boyana” due to the bridge being closed for inspection and possible repair, for which the municipality and API argue whose responsibility it is. There, cars coming from the center of Sofia enter the neighborhood to get on the ring road and the queue is kilometers long. On October 20, the section at Bulgaria Blvd. and the Ring Road will be opened, which is one of the key steps to ease traffic in the capital. Mayor Vasil Terziev announced.
The third red dot is the nightmarish traffic due to the renovation of Opalchenska. The opening of “Oplchenska” street and “Slivnitsa” boulevard is expected by the end of October, the mayor also promised.
Very soon, the project of “Josif Strosmeier” street will be accepted, the repair of which is making traffic difficult in the “Ilinden” area.
Permanent traffic jams are forming in the “Mladost” housing complexwhich is among the most rapidly developed residential areas. Thus, “Alexander Malinov” boulevard – the main artery from the neighborhood to the center and back in the direction of “Business Park”, where thousands of people work, is forever jammed.
traffic control, but until then red at least in five places and no longer just at rush hour
The second hotspot there is at the intersection of “Andrei Sakharov” and “Jerusalem”. The municipality has already promised that they will make 3 connected traffic lights on “Sakharov” with “Jerusalem” and “Prof. Marko Semov”. By early December, they will be synchronized and able to be controlled remotely to prioritize public transport and clear congestion in the area.
More than BGN 400,000 per year will be saved just from the acceleration of public transport,
as the new traffic lights will work in coordination with those on “Metropolitan Seraphim Slivenski” Street and “Tsarigradsko Shose” Blvd.
Those moving from “Mladost” 1 to the center, however, encounter a new blockade – the local one on “Tsarigradsko shose” blvd. is closed due to the construction of the subway.
For another 2 years, traffic will be difficult in the metropolitan districts “Geo Milev” and “Slatina” also because of the construction of the new subway. Until then, three key sections of Geo Milev Blvd. are closed.
One of the entrance arteries of Sofia – find. “Tsar Boris III” and the section from the ring road to Vladaya, also has nightmarish traffic during rush hour. Cars enter and leave from there in the direction from/to Blagoevgrad and Kulata, separately thousands of workers in the capital come and go home to Pernik and the surrounding districts.
The truth is that traffic jams in Sofia exist and will continue to exist when there are over 800,000 cars in the city, and this year they have increased by 70,000. The population is increasing, the city is developing and continues to be built. Our ambition is to improve the infrastructure in the coming years, during which there will continue to be traffic, so that we can walk on European streets and not break our feet on the pavements.
The traffic jams will continue while this city develops,
Terziev also said.
But he pointed out that among the most important things in this mandate is to make a new transport model that will help to better plan infrastructure and solve transport problems.
The PP-DB-SS group will submit a report in November on the creation of a municipal enterprise, with which
Sofia to return the placement of road markings, road signs and signaling into its own hands
GERB calculated that Sofia loses BGN 5 million per day due to traffic jams and we breathe 2.5 times more dirty air due to bad traffic. They accused PP-DB-SS, who did not enter the hall for the extraordinary pre-election meeting, that “they are directly to blame for the chaos with the organization of repairs and traffic”.
However, the attempt for an extraordinary SOS was criticized by Vanya Grigorova from the BSP group, who saw it as a goal of “making noise before the elections”. They were of the same opinion from “Sinya Sofia”.