Intense summer traffic, key repairs on motorways and dozens of accidents marked the road conditions in the country at the beginning of today. The “Road Infrastructure“ Agency (API), “Traffic Police“ (KAT) and the General Directorate “Fire Safety and Population Protection“ (GDPBZN) presented summarized data on repairs, border control and incidents over the past 24 hours.
Summary of the Traffic Police and the Fire Department: Accidents and outbreaks in the country
Over the past 24 hours, the Traffic Police and Fire Department teams worked under high workload conditions due to numerous accidents on the road and dry summer grass. The official data of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (mvr.bg) indicate the following exact number of accidents:
- Serious accidents: 1 serious road traffic accident (RTA) was registered on the national network.
- Minor accidents: 33 minor accidents with property damage.
- Died: 0 people.
- Injured: 1 person was injured and received medical attention.
- Fires extinguished: A total of 126 fires were extinguished across the country by fire safety units, with 4 citizens injured, mostly with minor gassing or burns (according to data from the information bulletin on the operational situation of mvr.bg/gdpbzn).
Construction, repairs and new measures of the RIA
The road surfaces in most of the country are dry and passable. The “Road Infrastructure” Agency (api.bg) introduces temporary traffic organization in several key directions:
- Struma Motorway: On August 26 and 27, the ongoing repairs of two road junctions in the Blagoevgrad region continue. Traffic towards Sofia is restricted at the road junctions “Damyanitsa – Novo Delchevo“ (at 152 km) and “Petrich – Melnik“. Traffic is being redirected via bypass routes through the village of Novo Delchevo and the town of Melnik on road III-109. The transit flow Sofia-Kulata along the main route is not stopped.
- AM „Hemus“: Short-term interruptions and narrowings continue in the Sofia region due to the installation of census and toll cameras, and drivers should drive with increased caution.
- Road I-5 Ruse – Byala: Traffic is changing in some areas due to maintenance of the toll system cameras.
Traffic at the borders at 06:00
Border Police informs about the status of the checkpoints in the early hours of the day:
- The border with Turkey: Extremely intense traffic for passenger cars at the entrance to the border checkpoint “Kapitan Andreevo“. Construction work is also underway at the checkpoint to expand its capacity.
- The border with Romania: Ferry connections at the Oryahovo checkpoint – Beckett“ and the border checkpoint “Svishtov – Zimnich“ remain temporarily closed due to the critically low level of the Danube River. Traffic is normal at the remaining points.
- Borders with Greece, Serbia and North Macedonia: Traffic is carried out in a regular mode at all border crossings.
Conditions for tourism in the mountains
The Mountain Rescue Service (pss-bgc.bg) reports that the conditions for mountain tourism in the morning hours are good. The weather is clear and relatively calm.
However, mountain rescuers warn of the risk of wet, slippery and muddy sections on the trails due to the morning dew and local rainfall from the previous days. Tourists are advised to go with suitable closed shoes, fully charged phones (and external battery), as well as to have mountain insurance before the hike.