The year 2026, historic for Romania's infrastructure: fully completed highways and hundreds of kilometers ready for inauguration

The year 2026 is set to be a record year for highway openings. The highways of the Capital, the West and Moldova will be completed, and experts' estimates show that more kilometers could be opened in 2026 than in 2024 and 2025 combined.

Highway with tunnels from the west, in the construction site. Photo Daniel Guță, THE TRUTH

By the end of 2025, the road network in Romania will exceed 1,400 kilometers of high-speed roads, with the estimated inaugurations in December of the Focșani – Domnești Târg segment (36 kilometers) of the Moldavian Motorway and the DEx6 Brăila – Galați (12 kilometers).

Despite optimistic forecasts released by state officials earlier this year, less than 100 kilometers of expressways have been opened to road traffic in the first 11 months of 2025, half of the 200 kilometers put into use in 2024.

Almost 900 kilometers of highways and express roads are in various stages of execution, and a third of them could be put into use in 2026. The more than 300 kilometers of highway under construction, with deadlines for completion during the next year, would represent a record of kilometers of highway opened in a single year in Romania.

Autostrada Vestului, completed in 2026

One of the most anticipated segments, whose completion is estimated in 2026, is the Margina – Holdea section, in western Romania, also called the “highway with tunnels”, due to the more than two kilometers of tunnels built on it, complemented by spectacular viaducts. About 4.5 kilometers of the 9 kilometers of highway left unfinished represent the viaducts and tunnels that cross the hills on the border of Timiș and Hunedoara counties.

“Access to the construction site on the A1 Margina – Holdea section is more difficult due to the weather, but nevertheless the UMB GRUP and Euro-Asfalt teams are still working on 11 active fronts. Underground, excavations continue, with attention being paid to the stratification of the land. Even in conditions of rain and water-saturated ground, work on the tunnels continues without a break, according to the technical schedule”, informs, recently, the Timișoara Regional Directorate of Roads and Bridges.

The two galleries of the Small Tunnel (T1), with a length of 368 meters on one track and 415 meters on the other, have been pierced, and the builders are working on the structural part: the installation of the waterproofing, the reinforcement of the embankment and the piers and their concreting.

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West highway Photo Daniel Guță THE TRUTH (17) jpg

At the Great Tunnel (T2), with galleries that measure 1,825 meters on one way and 1,985 meters on the other, the underground excavation continues at both entrance and exit galleries, with the related works: creating shadows, driving anchors, applying shotcrete. In the “cut and cover” (partially uncovered) area of ​​the tunnel, on the direction towards Lugoj, the earth is evacuated from under the protective plates, and on the direction towards Deva, underground digging continues.

Once completed, the Margina – Holdea segment, from the A1 Lugoj – Deva Highway, will make traffic possible only on the highway from the western border to the center of the country, on the 36 kilometer route of the A1 Nădlac – Arad – Timișoara – Lugoj – Deva – Sebeș – Sibiu – Boita.

The Moldavian highway, complete up to Pașcani in 2026

On November 27, 2025, the last segment of the Buzău – Focșani Motorway (Moldovei A7 Motorway), the 14 kilometers between the towns of Pietroasele and Buzău, was inaugurated. With its opening, drivers can drive uninterrupted on the 200 kilometers of highway (on the A7 and A3) between the cities of Bucharest and Focșani.

In 2026, the Moldova Motorway could be fully opened from Bucharest to Pașcani, with the completion of its segments totaling 175 kilometers. In the next period, the completion of the first two segments of the 96-kilometer section between the cities of Focșani and Bacău is expected, and in 2026, with the completion of the works on the 78 kilometers between Bacău and Pașcani, the historical regions of Moldova and Muntenia will be connected by a highway of almost 400 kilometers.

The new highway will connect the cities of the Moldova region, through the Capital, with those of Dobrogea (via A2 Bucharest–Constanța), Muntenia and Oltenia (via A0, A1, DEx 12 Bucharest–Craiova).

Autostrada Capitalei, complete in 2026

The A0 – Capital Beltway, 101 kilometers long, will also be completed in 2026, according to Romanian state estimates. The Southern ring was built and inaugurated in the period 2024 – 2025, and the Northern ring is partially completed, with three segments totaling approximately 25 kilometers remaining in the construction site.

In 2026, in addition to the Moldavian, Capital and Western highways, several segments of the Transilvania and Unirii highways are expected to be completed.

According to the 130km.ro website, which monitors major road infrastructure projects, the highway segments whose completion is estimated in 2026 are:

On the Bucharest North Ring Road (A0): Lot 4 (DN3 Cernica – A2), of 4.47 kilometers, Lot 3 (partially) Afumați – Cernica, of 6.30 kilometers, and Lot 1 (DJ601 – DN1 Corbeanca), of 17.50 kilometers.

On the Autostrada Vestului (A1) Lugoj – Deva: Lot 2 (Margina – Holdea), 13.52 kilometers long.

On the Transilvania Highway (A3): Section 3C1 (Suplacu de Barcău – Chiribiș), 26.35 kilometers long; Section 3A2 (Nădășelu – Mihăiesti), 13.60 kilometers long; Nădășelu and Topa Mică viaducts (3A2), 3.20 kilometers long; Section 3B1 (Mihăiesti – Zimbor), of 13.26 kilometers; Section 3B2 (Zimbor – Poarta Sălajului), 12.24 kilometers long; Section 3C2 (Chiribiș – Biharia), of 28.55 kilometers.

On the Moldovei Highway (A7), on the Focșani – Bacău section: Lot 2 (Domnești Târg – Răcăciuni), 38.78 kilometers long, and Lot 3 (Răcăciuni – Bacău), 21.52 kilometers long. On the same section, the completion of Lot 1 Focșani – Domnești Târg, 36 kilometers long, is estimated in December.

Also on the Moldovei Highway (A7), between Bacău and Pașcani: Lot 1 (Săucești – Trifești Târg), 30.30 kilometers, Lot 2 (Trifești – Gherăiesti), 18.99 kilometers, and Lot 3 (Mircești – Pașcani), 28.09 kilometers.

On Autostrada Unirii (A8): sections Leghin – Târgu Neamț, 29.91 kilometers long, and Târgu Mureș – Miercurea Nirajului, 24.40 kilometers long, as well as Ungheni Bridge, 1.10 kilometers long.