It is not just about the total number of kilometers of highways that will be open to traffic. The year 2026 comes with project types inaugurated for the first time in Romania. One of them is the first motorway tunnel drilled in Romania. Excavated near Curtea de Argeș, on the A1, the tunnel with a length of over one kilometer is due to open in the second part of the year.
“This year will be a year of premieres and peaks,” Ionuț Ciurea, director of the Pro Infrastructure Association, one of the most active civic organizations in the country that monitors the implementation of large infrastructure projects, told HotNews.
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Record year for inaugurated kilometers
“First of all, we are talking about the number of kilometers that will be opened this year. It will be a record year – for the first time, we will have more than 200 kilometers of highway opened in a year, maybe even 250, with a little luck,” detailed Ciurea.
He emphasizes that the greatest attention will be paid to the A7 “Moldova” Highway, which is financed up to Pașcani from the PNRR, a program with a deadline of August.
Currently, about 210 kilometers of the A7 are open to traffic out of the total of 450, and from Adjud to near Ploiești, at the intersection with the A3, it is a continuous highway.
In the spring, the continuation to the north from Adjud will be opened, in June-July the highway should reach Bacău, and in August the A7 is scheduled to reach Săbăoani, north of Roman. This will mean another important event.
“It's the year when we get rid of DN2, the part where traffic is usually irregular, on one and a half lanes. That is, we get rid of the “Death Road”. DN2, with its widened platform, reaches Săbăoani”, explains Ciurea.
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The first tunnel drilled on a highway in Romania opens
2026 also comes with the opening of the first drilled highway tunnel in Romania. Excavated near Curtea de Argeș, on the A1, the Momaia tunnel is 1.35 kilometers long and will be opened to traffic in the second part of the year, together with the almost 10 km of Section 4 of the A1 Sibiu – Pitesti.
The Momaia tunnel is the first tunnel drilled on a Romanian highway. It was made using the NATM (New Austrian tunneling method) technology, which involves the sequential excavation of the tunnel and the reinforcement of the walls along the way. This is done by spraying layers of concrete.
Now, in Romania there is only one highway tunnel, also on the A1, near Sibiu. The “Săcel” tunnel is 340 meters long, but it was not drilled, but dug and then covered with a concrete ceiling and a layer of vegetation on top.
Also in the chapter on tunnels, the year 2026 brings another first: the first tunnel drilled with a “mole”, a TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine). It is a specialized machine that continuously drills a tunnel from one end to the other, as, for example, subway tunnels are drilled. Except that the TBM is much higher in the case of a highway tunnel.
Currently, in Romania, the tunnels that are built on the A1 are either by the NATM technique described above (Momaia Tunnel, Tunnels between Margina and Holdea, partially the Robești tunnel), or by blasting and excavation (partially the Robești tunnel).
Also on the A1 Sibiu – Pitesti, on section 3, the Italians from WeBuild (Ex-Astaldi) will start in 2026 to drill with a TBM the longest tunnel of the highway – the Poiana Tunnel, which will be over 1.78 kilometers long.
A fast road opens on a rickety bridge
In 2026, almost two years late, the almost 11 kilometers of express road between Galati and Brăila will also be opened to traffic. Near Galati, drivers will cross one of the most spectacular and complex road infrastructure structures in the country.
An area of almost 2 kilometers consists only of structures: a viaduct that crosses the Siret protection dam, a metal arch bridge over the railway, another viaduct structure over which it connects directly to a drawbridge over the Siret River, and finally another long viaduct that crosses the railway lines from the depot.
The Hobanat bridge is the “star”, and once opened to traffic it will mark another first for the highway network in Romania. Almost 310 meters long, the cable-stayed bridge has two pairs of tall towers to which the powbals – the thick cables that support the weight of the road deck below – are attached.
It will be the first suspension bridge of appreciable size on a highway in Romania. “There is another drawbridge on the A3, where the highway crosses the DN1 near Ploiesti, but that one is very small, many drivers probably don't even realize that there is a bridge there when they pass,” says Ionuț Ciurea.
Near Ploiești, the bridge on the A3 has two central piers that are barely visible from across the highway, to which three piers are connected to each to support the deck. In Galați, however, the Hobanat bridge has two pairs of three-times-higher towers, held between them by three huge steel beams, and 12 poles will be attached to each pillar to support the metal deck of the bridge over Siret.
The construction of the first highway in the north of the country begins. Just a stump for now
Construction begins on the first highway in the north of the country, the first high-speed road from the western border to Maramureș. It is about the Express Road from Oar to Satu Mare, only 11 kilometers long.
Officially, the contract was signed in October last year, and CNAIR gave the order to start only from May 2027. Ionuț Ciurea from Pro Infrastructure believes that the works will start, however, from this year. The project has a deadline of 24 months.
Further, from Satu Mare, “Someș Expres” as it is also called, will continue for 55 kilometers to Maramureș, at Baia Mare. For that section, the project is still in the Feasibility Study phase.
The capital, completely surrounded by the highway
“This part of “missing links” will also be very important in 2026, to close important projects. And the most important closure this year will be the Capital belt”, detailed the Pro Infrastructure representative.
He refers to the opening of the three lots in progress today, from A1 to DN1 (Lot 1), from DN2 to DN3 (Lot 3) and from DN3 to A2 (Lot 4). Once opened, the entire highway ring will be completed, and the Capital will be surrounded by almost 100 kilometers of high-speed highway.
“It's mega important. We'll then say that CNAIR is stronger than NASA, that we had a bet made at one point, if we could get around the capital by highway faster than the Americans get back to the moon”, says Ciurea.
And also as a first, the full opening of the A0 will also mean the completion of the first and only highway built by the Chinese in Romania. Lot 3, about 8.6 km, is built by CECC from China, contracted before the Romanian state banned Chinese companies from participating in road tenders.
