“Highway of tunnels” in the west, half way. Its completion in 2026 is becoming increasingly uncertain
Almost two years after the start of work on the most difficult section of the Western Motorway (A1 Deva – Lugoj), the physical progress on the site has exceeded 50 percent, but the chances that the “Highway with tunnels” will be completed in 2026 are slim.
The 1.1 kilometer viaduct. Photo: Daniel Guță. TRUTH
Started in 2024, the works on the Margina – Holdea section of the Western Highway (A1 Lugoj – Deva), also called “Highway with tunnels”, have an estimated completion date of September 2026, according to the data of the Center for Road Technical Studies and Informatics (CESTRIN) within the National Road Infrastructure Administration Company (CNAIR).
The highway, half done
The section, with a total length of approximately 13 kilometers, presents a high degree of difficulty due to the two tunnels, whose four galleries total 4.6 kilometers. The first tunnel (T1) has a length of 367.5 meters on one gallery and 415 meters on the other, and the second (T2) has galleries of 1,985 meters and 1,825 meters.
The tunnels are completed by three passages. The first, with a length of 213 meters, is built in the Holdea area, at the exit of the Great Tunnel. The second, with a length of 121 meters, connects the ends of the two tunnels, and the third is a 1,085-meter viaduct, located at the end of the small tunnel from Nemeșești, over the railway.
About 800 workers and hundreds of machines have been mobilized on the “Highway with tunnels” construction site, but as time passes, the chances of the highway segment being completed in 2026 seem less and less. In December 2025, works on the Holdea – Margina section reached a stage of approximately 50 percent. As of March 2026, physical progress on the site exceeded 53 percent, CESTRIN data show.
However, it is still necessary to excavate approximately two kilometers of galleries, manufacture and install beams on approximately 1.5 kilometers of passages and carry out the other infrastructure works, in approximately half a year, the estimated deadline for completion, according to CNAIR.
More than 2.6 kilometers of the galleries of the future tunnels have been excavated, and the passages in their vicinity are at the end of the infrastructure works, before entering the stage of installing the beams.
At the 1.1 kilometer viaduct, the piles have already been erected along the entire length of the structure, and work is currently underway to reinforce and complete their ends, in preparation for the installation of the deck beams. The viaduct from Nemeșești crosses the valley and descends over the railway towards Margina, being designed in this way to avoid the unstable areas of the land and the railway infrastructure in the area.
Beyond the 4.5 kilometer segment that includes the tunnels and passages, between Nemeșești and Holdea, the highway construction site continues with the embankments already completed up to Margina. The platform of the future highway has been outlined, and at the same time, drainage works and the development of watercourses in the area are being carried out. The platform on which the approximately 450 beams used for the superstructure of the viaduct and the other passages on the highway will be manufactured was set up at Margina.
More than 250 kilometers of highway promised in 2026
At the end of 2025, the National Road Infrastructure Administration Company (CNAIR) announced that in 2026 approximately 250 new kilometers of highways and express roads could be opened in Romania.
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West Lugoj Deva highway under construction Photo Daniel Guță THE TRUTH (20) JPG
“In 2025, we reached the milestone of 1,418 kilometers of high-speed roads! We opened traffic on another 146 km of highway and expressway. Next year is even more ambitious: in 2026, the target is 250 new kilometers!”, announced Cristian Pistol, director of CNAIR, on December 31, 2025, in a post on Facebook.
Among the targeted projects are approximately 125 kilometers of the Moldova Motorway (A7), 9.13 kilometers of the Margina – Holdea sector of the A1 Lugoj – Deva, the Curtea de Argeș – Tigveni section of the Sibiu – Pitești Motorway (A1), 68 kilometers of the Transilvania Motorway (A3), as well as the Brăila – Galați expressway (10.76 km). The completion of the northern ring of the A0 Motorway – the Capital Beltway is also targeted.
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West Lugoj Deva highway under construction Photo Daniel Guță THE TRUTH (13) JPG
The inauguration of the Holdea – Margina section was conditional, according to the director of CNAIR, on the success of complex tests for safety and monitoring equipment.
Uncertainties on the lot of the large viaducts on the Transilvania Highway
The inauguration, in 2026, of at least 40 kilometers of Autostrada Transilvania (A3) Cluj – Oradea remains under question, conditioned by the pace of work on a 3.2 kilometer segment of viaducts built in Nădășelu and Topa Mică.
The Topa Mică viaduct, about two kilometers long, and the Nădășelu viaduct (about 1.2 kilometers) are being built on the Nădășelu – Porta Sălajului segment of the Transilvania Motorway (A3 Cluj – Oradea).
Work on the two viaducts began in the spring of 2025 and is due to be completed in 2026. Their construction is imposed by the clayey and unstable soil, which does not allow the creation of a classic embankment and requires complex engineering solutions, with deeply drilled piles and massive concrete structures.
Also in 2026, the road junction from Românași, which recently entered the construction site, will also have to be completed. The contract for the construction of the road junction, worth 71.3 million lei, financed by PNRR, has an execution term of seven months.
The Românași interchange, built by UMB, will ensure the connection with Transilvania Highway (Zimbor – Poarta Sălajulu subsection), DN1F and DJ108A, until the Poarta Sălajului – Zalău section is completed, estimated for 2031.
