“Highway with tunnels”, two years after the start of the works. What is left to build from the Margina – Holdea section
Two years have passed since the start of work on the “Highway with tunnels” in western Romania, which, once completed, will connect the western border, via highway, with the cities in the center of the country. The highway should be completed in 2026, officials from the Ministry of Transport say.
Highway with tunnels in the construction site. Photo: Daniel Guță. TRUTH
The works on one of the most complex highway sections in Romania are nearing completion, two years after they started.
Two years from the start of the works
On April 29, 2024, the Ministry of Transport issued the first construction permit for the Margina – Holdea section, with a total length of 13.5 kilometers, built in western Romania, in Timiș and Hunedoara counties.
The works started in May 2024, on a route of approximately nine kilometers of the highway, between Holdea, Hunedoara county, and Margina, Timiș county, except for the most complex segment of the highway: the two tunnels with four galleries, with a total length of 4.6 kilometers, and the viaducts and passages built to complete them.
In August 2024, the construction permit was also issued for the two tunnels, completed by three passages. The first tunnel, T1, has a length of 367.5 meters on one tunnel and 415 meters on the other, and the second, T2, has tunnels of 1,985 meters and 1,825 meters.
The two 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.
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Lugoj Deva Motorway construction site, Margina Holdea section, with tunnels, May 2026 Photo Danirl Guță THE TRUTH (46) JPG
Also, work is needed on another segment of this highway, about four kilometers long, which was completed in 2017 and left for conservation. The section was part of Lot 2 of the Lugoj – Deva Highway, 28.5 kilometers long, between the towns of Coșevița and Traian Vuia. On this section in Timiș County, work began in 2013, and in March 2017, 15 kilometers between Traian Vuia and Margina were inaugurated.
Of the other 13 kilometers, the four kilometer piece built beyond the Margina junction towards Holdea remained in conservation, and the remaining nine kilometers had to be redesigned and built from scratch, between Margina and Holdea, including the tunnels that were not included in the original highway route.
The two ecoducts on the Margina – Holdea section were designed to avoid deep sinkholes, risks of instability and negative impact on the environment, according to the environmental agreement, revised in 2013. The contract for the design and execution of the “highway with tunnels” was signed in October 2022, with a deadline of 45 months (11 months design and 34 months execution), respectively the year 2026.
The large tunnel built on Autostrada Vestului enters in a straight line. How many meters remain to be excavated in its galleries
The beams and the breakthrough of the Great Tunnel are awaited
Currently, two years after work began, physical progress on the expressway site is approaching 60 percent. According to CNAIR, at the Small Tunnel (T1) the excavations, the shotcrete works and the turned vault foundations in both galleries have been completed, and the waterproofing installation works are nearing completion. At the Great Tunnel (T2), the excavations have passed halfway through the galleries and work is being done in eight fronts, with less than one kilometer of each gallery remaining to be excavated.
On the rest of the route, the embankments and the structures of the viaducts and passages have been completed, and in the next period, the installation of the more than 450 concrete beams, which will be built at Margina, is expected to begin.
“The platform on which the factory of beams that will be mounted on bridges and viaducts will be installed has been completed. The contract worth 1.82 billion lei (without VAT) is financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and must be completed this year. When the Margina-Holdea section is opened, it will be possible to drive uninterrupted on the highway, from Boita to Nădlac, for a distance of over 360 kilometers”recently informed Cristian Pistol, director of the National Road Infrastructure Administration Company (CNAIR).
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Lugoj Deva Motorway construction site, Margina Holdea section, with tunnels, May 2026 Photo Danirl Guță THE TRUTH (1) JPG
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The work on the missing segment of the Lugoj – Deva Motorway is due to be completed in the first quarter of 2027, although CNAIR and Ministry of Transport officials have so far been optimistic about its inauguration, estimating its completion in 2026. The Margina – Holdea section is part of the A1 Lugoj – Deva Motorway (Western Motorway), which will be 100 kilometers in total and crosses Timiș counties and Hunedoara, in western Romania.
With the inauguration of the “highway with tunnels”, there will be a complete highway connection between the cities in central Romania (Alba Iulia, Sibiu, Cluj-Napoca and Târgu Mureș) with the cities of Arad and Timișoara and with the western border from Nădlac, with Hungary.
