A new highway in Romania is being revived after being abandoned since the Bechtel era. It will cost 1.5 billion euros
The Brașov – Făgăraș highway, a segment that is part of the original Transylvania Highway started and later abandoned by the constructor Bechtel, is one step closer to being completed. The Road Management Company approved the Feasibility Study and set the next steps.
“In the next period, the documentation will go through the stages of analysis within the CTE of the Ministry of Transport and the Interministerial Council, and later the Government Decision for the approval of the technical-economic indicators will be subject to the approval of the Executive”, reports CNAIR.
The new highway has a rate of return (RIRE) of 13.10%, “which justifies the completion of the other design stages (PAC and PTE) within the current contract and allows the tender to be launched directly for the contract required for the execution of the works (FIDIC Roșu)”, according to the company.
The construction of the Brașov-Făgăraș Motorway amounts to a total value of 7.74 billion lei (without VAT), i.e. almost 1.5 billion euros.
The highway will have a length of 49.3 km, and along its route will be built:
- 3 road junctions (Codlea Sud, Codlea Nord and Șercaia),
- 49 bridges, passages and viaducts,
- an S3 service space,
- a short-term parking lot,
- a Maintenance and Coordination Center.
- 2 cut and cover tunnels and a pole structure (the three structures, with a cumulative length of 800 meters, will also act as ecoducts).
Autostrada Transilvania and the abandonment of Bechtel
The Brașov – Făgăraş highway was originally part of the Transilvania highway, which was supposed to start from Brașov, reach Făgăraș, Târgu Mureș and Cluj Napoca, and finally “exit” the country at Borș, near Oradea.
For that project, 415 km long, Romania led by the Adrian Năstase government signed a contract with the American company Bechtel in 2003 at an initial cost estimated at 2.2 billion euros.
The contract was awarded directly, without a public tender, which drew harsh criticism from the European Commission. Due to constant financing problems, renegotiations and bureaucratic blockages, the Americans managed to complete in 10 years only 52 kilometers (between Câmpia Turzii and Gilău) and partially execute works on other segments, such as the famous viaduct that was abandoned for a long time near Suplacu de Barcău.
In 2013, the contract was officially terminated, with the Romanian state paying huge penalties, and the project was broken up into small lots and put up for auction piece by piece.
Currently, the highway is a succession of completed sections and active construction sites, operated by various domestic and foreign builders. The usable network measures approximately 130 km open to traffic, mainly divided between the sectors Târgu Mureș – Nădășelu and the border area from Biharia – Borș.
However, although some sections were revitalized and put up for auction, the piece from Brașov and Făgăraș was forgotten for a long time. Only in 2021 did a contract to review the Feasibility Study begin.
Autostrada Transilvania, inaugurations expected for 2026
The year 2026 could mean a series of important inaugurations for Autostrada Transilvania
The early completion of lot 3C2 Chiribiș-Biharia will allow traffic on the Transilvania-A3 Highway, without interruption, from Borș II, at the border with Hungary, to Nușfalău (Sălaj county), over a distance of 74 kilometers, after the first 5 kilometers from Borș to Biharia were inaugurated in 2020.
The continuation of the highway and the opening of traffic to Suplacu de Barcău will only be possible because the adjacent section, from Chirbiș to Suplacu de Barcău (26.35 km), contracted in November 2023 with Construcții Erbașu SA for approximately 884 million lei, has a deadline for completion this year and information from the field shows an adequate mobilization of the builder.
The next section, the 13.5 km from Nușfalău to Suplacu de Barcău, was completed by a company from Turkey and was opened to traffic at the end of September 2023.
Furthermore, the Nușfalău – Zalău and Zalău – Poarta Sălajului sections were contracted in April 2025 with the association of Turkish companies Makyol Insaat Sanayi Turizm VE Ticaret AS – Ozaltin Insaat Ticaret VE Sanayi AS, for the amount of 6.62 billion lei (without VAT). Converted into euros, the value of the contract reaches about 1.32 billion euros and will be ready in 6 and a half years, according to the contract, and this is because the longest highway tunnel in Romania will be built on the route: the Meseș tunnel, 2.9 km long.
Further, from the Porta Sălajului to Nădășelu (west of Cluj Napoca), the sections are under construction and are also likely to be ready for opening in 2026.
Once these lots are completed, drivers will be able to drive uninterrupted on approximately 155 km of the Transilvania Highway, from near Zalău to Târgu Mureș.
