“Strategic premiere”: Romania modernizes a road from Ukraine and builds the last section of the Moldovan Highway to the border

The Motorway Company is launching the tender for the “northern end” of the expressway to Ukraine, the practical continuation of the A7 “Moldova” Motorway that crosses the region from South to North, up to Siret. The project, financed through the SAFE mechanism, has a dual civil and military purpose and also involves the modernization of 15 km of the M19 national road from Ukraine to Chernivtsi.

“Strategic premiere. We are launching the tender for the “northern end” of the Express Road to Ukraine! Lot 3 (Bălcăuți – Siret) of the Suceava-Siret expressway will have a dual role: civil and military”, announces the head of CNAIR, Cristian Pistol, after three weeks ago the authorities put Lot 1 and Lot 2 of the Expressway from Suceava to Siret up for auction.

Lot 3 is a project “unique in the CNAIR portfolio, financed through the SAFE (Action for the Security of Europe) instrument, which goes beyond Romania's borders”, Pistol claims.

The project provides:

• the construction of 12.65 km of new expressway in Romania,
• the modernization of 1.45 km of DN2 (up to the border crossing point),
• modernization of 15 km of the M19 national road (on the territory of Ukraine).

“The extension of benefits to the neighboring state was the decisive condition to obtain this European funding through SAFE (EU Regulation 2025/1106),” says the Roads director.

On the new expressway sector, a bridge of almost 1 km (967 meters) will be built over the Siret river, 2 major road junctions: Siret Sud and Siret Nord and a Maintenance and Coordination Center (CIC).

Suceava – Siret, the only link left behind on the North-South axis in Moldova

For the Suceava – Siret high-speed highway, a contract for carrying out the feasibility study has been carried out since 2020. Contracted with the Search Corporation – Egis association for approximately 9.7 million lei, the documentation was completed only in 2025.

The section from Suceava to Siret, on the border with Ukraine, is practically the only one left in the air so far from the high-speed road connection on the North-South axis in Moldova. It was only at the end of 2025 that the first two lots from Suceava to Bălcăuti, 43 km long, were announced for auction.

Further south, the sections of the A7 from Suceava to Pașcani were awarded to UMB in the auction, but the contracts have not yet been signed. The rest of the sections to the South, starting from Pașcani to Adjud are being completed in 2026 by the same builder.

The sections from Adjud to Buzău and further to Ploiesti (A3/Dumbrava) were completed and opened to traffic in 2024-2025, totaling around 200 km.