The most expensive highway in Romania will be built near Iași / It will have tunnels with three lanes in each direction

The section of the “Unirii” A8 highway that will bypass Iași to the north will cost more than 43 million euros per kilometer. It will thus become the most expensive highway under construction in Romania, more expensive than the most difficult mountain lots on the A8.

The National Road Investment Company awarded, on Friday, the contract for the design and execution of section 3, 17.7 kilometers long, of the A8 Târgu Neamț (Moțca)-Iasi-Ungheni Motorway. The project is financed by the SAFE Program, the European funding program for strategic and military investments.

The Spanish builder FCC Construcction was named the winner of the contract on the section 3 Lețcani (DN28)-DN 24 (Iași), with an offer submitted at the auction of 3.93 billion lei, excluding VAT, that is approximately 770 million euros.

Divided by the number of kilometers of the section, it comes out to an average cost of 43.5 million euros per kilometer – the highest cost per kilometer of highway paid so far on a highway in Romania.

“We awarded the contract for this section of the Union Highway to a builder from Spain with solid experience in large infrastructure works. The A8 highway is a project with a strategic and European value and we want the contract to be signed as soon as possible”, said the general director of the National Road Investment Company, Gabriel Budescu.

Why does a section of less than 18 kilometers cost so much?

In an interview for HotNews at the end of last year, Gabriel Budescu explained the very high value of the section in terms of the works needed for the highway to cross the hilly relief in the northwest of Iași.

The section, although it is only 17.7 km long, will have no less than 6 tunnels and 18 bridges along it, as well as two road junctions.

“Here we will also have tunnels with three lanes, with a lane for heavy vehicles, which leads to higher costs. They will be the widest highway tunnels in Romania. The costs for a highway now are quite high, prices have been increasing in recent years,” said Budescu.

*The video below is for illustrative purposes, the tunnels in the project will have three lanes in each direction

A8 Lețcani – Iași Nord – more than half of the lot, on viaducts and through tunnels

The duration of the contract is 46 months, of which 10 months for design and 36 months for execution.

On the route of the 17.7 kilometers of highway, more than half of the distance will be represented by bridges, viaducts and tunnels:

• 18 bridges and passages. The total length of the bridges and passages will be 6.74 km
• 6 tunnels and a tunnel monitoring center. The tunnels will all have three lanes in each direction and will have a total length of 1.57 km.
• 2 nodes (road node at the intersection with DJ 282 and road node at the intersection with DN 24).

Status of all sections on the A8 “Unirii” Motorway

The A8 motorway is planned to be around 300 kilometers in total and has been divided into 13 sections, in various stages of implementation and managed by two different state companies.

1. The A8 motorway is planned to be around 300 kilometers in total and has been divided into 13 sections, in various stages of implementation and managed by two different state companies.
2. Tg. Mureș – Miercurea Nirajului (1A) – 22 km, under construction – Contracted with Nurol, 2.4 billion lei (managed by CNAIR)
3. Miercurea Nirajului – Sărățeni (1B) – 23.4 km, under design – Contracted with Ozaltin, 2.98 billion lei (managed by CNAIR)
4. Sărățeni – Joseni (1C) – 32.4 km, design started in March 2026 – Contracted with UMB, 4.94 billion lei (managed by CNIR)
5. Joseni – Ditrău (1D) – 14.4 km, under design – Contracted with Danlin XXL (Leader) – Groma Hold-Intertranscom Impex, 0.82 billion lei (managed by CNIR)
6. Ditrău – Grințieș (2A) – 38 km, under design – Contracted with UMB, 6.14 billion lei (managed by CNIR)
7. Grințieș – Pipirig (2B) – 31.5 km, design started in March 2026 – Contracted with UMB, 5.97 billion lei (managed by CNIR)
8. Pipirig – Leghin (2C) – 19.3 km, under design – Contracted with UMB, 2.69 billion lei (managed by CNAIR)
9. Leghin – Tg. Neamț (Moțca/DN2) – 29.91 km, under construction – Contracted with UMB, 1.56 billion lei (managed by CNAIR)
10. .Moțca – Tg. Frumos (Tronson 1) – 27 km – Assigned to Danlin XXL (Leader) – Groma Hold-Intertranscom Impex, but the Bucharest Court of Appeal accepted UMB's appeal. The offers will be reevaluated – 4.76 billion lei (managed by CNIR)
11. Tg Frumos – Lețcani (Tronson 2) – 28.6 km – In the auction, 6 bids submitted, estimated value at 6.5 billion lei (managed by CNIR)
12. .Lețcani – Iasi Nord (DN24) (Tronson 3) – 17.7 km – Awarded for 3.93 billion lei to FCC Construction (managed by CNIR)
13. Iași Nord (DN24) – Golăiesti – Ungheni/Pod over the Prut (Tronson 4) – 15.5 km, tender launched with an estimated value of 4.7 billion lei (managed by CNIR)