The Giurgiu-Ruse “Friendship” bridge will be temporarily closed to car traffic. Announcement of the authorities

The Giurgiu-Ruse “Friendship” bridge will be completely closed to traffic on June 4 and 5. Traffic will be suspended differently for light vehicles and heavy traffic.

Circulation on the Friendship Bridge, Giurgiu – Ruse, will be suspended between June 4-5 for construction and assembly work on the Bulgarian side of the bridge, drivers being advised to take detour routes, the Territorial Inspectorate of the Border Police (ITPF) Giurgiu informed on Tuesday, according to Agerpres.

“Bulgarian border authorities have sent a notification, through the Giurgiu Joint Contact Center, regarding the fact that traffic on the Giurgiu – Ruse Friendship Bridge will be temporarily restricted for construction and installation work. The interventions are scheduled to begin on June 4, 2026, at 09:00, when traffic will be completely stopped on the bridge to allow the work to be carried out safely, and will continue until on June 5, at 9:00 a.m., during which the circulation of motor vehicles or heavy tonnage machines will be suspended in different time intervals”', according to a press release of ITPF Giurgiu.

Thus, according to the Border Police, traffic will be suspended:

• on June 4, 2026, between 09:00 and 21:00, for light vehicles
• from June 4, starting at 9:00 a.m. until June 5, at the same time, traffic will be suspended for heavy vehicles.

In order to prevent blockages or delays, the border police recommend drivers and transport companies to plan their routes effectively and to consider alternative routes through the border crossing points of Calafat and Bechet in Dolj County, Zimnicea, Turnu Măgurele County, Teleorman County, Călărași County, Călărași County or Vama Veche, Ostrov, Negru Vodă, Lipnița, Dobromir from Constanța county.

Works nearing completion on the Friendship Bridge

Work on the Bulgarian side of the Friendship Bridge began in the summer of 2024 and was scheduled to last two years. Romania has done and finished such works on its part of the bridge since 2016.

The works on the Bulgarian side have reached the last hundreds of meters, the journalists from the Mediapool.bg publication, part of the European PULSE project along with HotNews, reported at the beginning of May:

Repair work is on schedule and expected to be completed by the June 10 contract deadline.

“Starting from April 15, the repair works began on the last 320 meters of the direction that goes to Romania,” the Bulgarian journalists report.

Until completion, traffic will continue to be restricted and vehicles will alternate from one side of the bridge to the other.

The Bulgarians' section of the bridge measures 1,057 meters and has not undergone any major repair and strengthening work since it was commissioned in 1954.

Another good news for drivers: the bridge toll will be able to be paid online

In parallel, the Romanian Road Company is also on the last hundred meters with the implementation of an online toll payment system for the bridge, basically, after the completion of the works, the last stop on the Romanian side so that the crossings to Bulgaria can be made without any stops.

In December last year, CNAIR signed a contract of 844,500 lei (about 165,000 euros) with the company Altimate for the realization of a collection system by electronic means of the tariff for crossing the bridge over the Danube in the direction of Giurgiu – Ruse.

The contract has a 6-month implementation period, followed by a 12-month warranty.

“The deadline for commissioning is June 15, 2026,” CNAIR spokesperson Alin Șerbănescu confirmed for HotNews.

“Currently, equipment installation works are being carried out on the 3rd and 4th ACI Giurgiu-outbound ACI, and the application is in the stage of testing the functionalities”, said the CNAIR representative.

Currently, drivers pay a fee of 15 lei (3 euros) for cars, and 180 lei (about 37 euros) for trucks. On the Bulgarian side, cars pay 2 euros, and heavy trucks 37 euros. On both sides, the predominant method of payment is by card or cash at the gate.

Last year, CNAIR transmitted at the request of HotNews how much the collection of the Friendship Bridge toll actually means – almost 17 million euros per year.