Video highway with the longest working tunnel in Romania. Why was the project kept in PNRR, although it has no chance to be ready on time

The longest highway under construction at this time in Romania is on a highway included in the National Plan for Retroil and Resility (PNRR), but which will not be ready until the deadline for which the financing program will be concluded. However, the government has kept it on the list of projects that will receive money through European loans.

The missing section of the Lugoj-Deva highway (A1)-the 13.16 kilometers of missing highway from the entire A1 from Sibiu to the Western border, including the portion of tunnels between Margina and Holdea-is one of the highways that have been caught from the beginning for non-reimbursable funding through the PNRR, the EU program meant to help the post-Covid economy.

PNRR has a deadline for financing the projects August 2026, and the project of the Margin-Holdea highway is the left behind all the highway projects included. In July, the Minister of European Projects announced that several highways projects will be removed from the PNRR because they have no realistic how to be ready until the deadline.

Why was the highway with “tunnels for bears” in PNRR

Although A1 Margina-Holdea has no chance of being ready in time, in a memorandum transmitted to the Government the Ministry of Investments and European projects, however, has decided to keep the motorway section in PNRR. The highway was moved to the loan component of this financing mechanism, ie it is not financed by non -reimbursable funds, but by money borrowed at a very small interest.

The Margina – Holdea highway currently has a 35%physical progress, according to the Center for Road and Informatics (Cestrin), but has no real chance to be completely ready in August 2026.

“The Margina – Holdea project is of high complexity and involves the construction of tunnels on the A1 Lugoj – Deva highway. It has an average risk of non -ending. Due to the fact that this project has already been financed in two multiannual financial frameworks, it cannot be refined through the transport program. The risk is to return the entire amount to the project.

For this reason, it was kept in the PNRR: in the case of failure to fail, the potential financial penalty related to target 84 would be about 675 million lei (135 million euros), compared to the total value of the project that would require the amount of 2.225 billion lei (445 million euros) ”, explains the Ministry of Investments

“It will not be ready in 2026 in any case”

In order to be financed by PNRR on the loan component, the project will still have to have reached the physical stage in the field next year, in August, explained for HotNews.ro Ionuț Ciurea, the executive director of the Pro Infrastructure Association, one of the organizations in the civil society that monitors the improper implementation.

“Theoretically it could pass 50%, it is perfectly feasible, much of the works can be completed, but the tunnels will remain. This means you can take the money from the PNRR, so that you do not leave a lot of money, and most likely the rest will remain on the budget,” says Ciurea.

He explains that, initially, the term August 2026 was for the completion of all projects, but the renegotiation of the terms in the PNR managed so that, in order not to lose the financing on the delayed projects, the physical stage in the land is at least 50% at the time of the closing of the PNRR.

“But it will not be inaugurated in August 2026, in no case. The tunnels are the big problem, it is a lot of work there. It is only next year in the summer if the builders will dig tunnels and only then a year for completion, that it lasts.

The longest highway tunnel in Romania

The tunnels on the A1 between Margina and Holdea-two in number-are the first such structures that the Romanian RAMU builder works, in an association with a company from Bosnia and Herzegovina who has experience in tunnels.

One of the tunnels – the little one – has a length of about 400 meters, while the second tunnel has almost 1.9 km on a path and 1.8 km on another path, being practically the longest highway tunnel that is being worked on in Romania.

For comparison, the Momaia tunnel on A1 Sibiu – Pitești, section 4 – at which the Austrians from the por have finished drilling this year – is 1.35 km long. Also on A1, on section 3 in Sibiu – Pitești, the Italians from Webuild will start drilling the Poiana Lung tunnel of almost 1.8 kilometers.

On A1 Margina – Holdea, he was walking at the beginning of the year.

“It is the first project with the pM tunnels. The progress is good so far, but it is seen that I am in the first tunnel. You really do not have to be specialist to see what the yard looks here about what the site porr on Sibiu-Pitesti is. It is, however, a very good that this know-how is created for a Romanian builder,” says Pro Infrastructure.

Video – as now the progress of the two tunnels on A1 Margina – Holdea shows: Holdea:

How the tunnels on A1 margin – Holdea are made

The 13.16 km of highway-the only missing piece of the entire A1 from Sibiu to the Western border-were contracted on October 14, 2022 with an association between RUM (Romania)-Euro-Assphal (Bosnia) for about 1.83 billion lei (excluding VAT).

From this contract, the most important works are the two tunnels drilled by NATM (New Austrian Tunneling Method) technology, which involves the sequential tunnel excavation and the wall reinforcement. This is done by spraying concrete layers. Basically, the tunnel is traditionally dug, through small segments, then the exposed rock walls are reinforced with a metal mesh and over them is placed concrete to give resistance.

Once such a segment is completed, the next one is drilled. Subsequently, along the tunnel thus dug and stabilized, the waterproofing and the final concrete lining that includes the main reinforcement are also applied. Then you go to finishes and equipment with tunnels with installations and utilities.

Where the tunnels (estimative lengths) will be – according to the plans in CNAIR:

In total, there are about 2.13 km of tunnels. A small tunnel has a long way of about 368 meters and the other way of 415 meters. The RAM pierced the first way in July, and in October it should pierce the other way of the tunnel.

The second tunnel has a length of about 1,985 meters on one path and 1,825 on the other. It is, in fact, a tunnel divided into three segments – two segments drilled by NATM technology and a segment in the middle of about 400 meters that is made by CUT & COVER technology, which involves the top down of the tunnel gallery and then its concrete coverage.

They were told “tunnels for bears” especially in the press, because they were imposed by the environmental agreement and to keep on the surface the transit corridors for large mammals in an area of ​​connection between the Western Carpathians.

The two tunnels were imposed in 2013 by the Environmental Agreement after all the lots of A1 Lugoj – Deva were contracted a year on the basis of documentation that provided excavations in those places.

The initial solution in the project provided that the highway would pass through completely excavated areas, practically sectioning an area of ​​animal migration.

Piece with tunnels, “hole” from A1 Sibiu – Nădlac who gives the drivers head

The piece with tunnels represents practically a “hole” of about 13 km throughout the highway from Sibiu to Nădlac especially after the 3 and 4 lots of Lugoj – Deva were open to traffic in 2019.

In 2013, after the lots 2, 3 and 4 of A1 Lugoj – Deva were contracted, the environmental agreement was modified and required the creation of tunnels between Holdea and Margina, instead of huge excavations that would practically split the mountain in two.

As the contracts were already signed, the road company had to remove the piece with separate tunnels and to launch a procedure for designing and executing the tunnels.

However, years of stuttering and bureaucratic changes follow. Since 2015, the head of that time, Narcis Neaga (no who has passed once in the company head), promised that at the end of the year he will auction the tunnels on A1 Lugoj – Deva. Eventually the auction was launched in 2021.