The Cherno More motorway or the Black Sea motorway (, ) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n motorway planned to link the major coastal cities of

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

and

Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a popu ...

, passing along the

Bulgarian Black Sea Coast The Bulgarian Black Sea Coast (), also known as the Bulgarian Riviera, covers the entire eastern bound of Bulgaria stretching from the Romanian Black Sea resorts in the north to European Turkey in the south, along 378 km of coast ...

. It is part of the

Pan-European Corridor VIII The Corridor VIII is one of the Pan-European corridors. It comprises both road and rail routes. Both commence on the Italian Adriatic coast at Bari or Brindisi, with a ferry crossing to Durrës in Albania. From there the routes cross the souther ...

and is estimated to be 103 km (60 miles) long when finished. As of 2016, 10 km (6 miles) of the motorway are completed, from the

Asparuhov bridge The Asparuhov most ( bg, Аспарухов мост) or Asparuhov Bridge is a bridge in Varna on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. It connects the Asparuhovo district to the rest of the city over the canals between the Black Sea and Lake Varna ...

in Varna to the village of

Priseltsi Priseltsi - Burgas Province ( bg, Приселци) is a village in South- East Bulgaria, situated in Obshtina Nessebar, in the Burgas region. Priseltsi is an 8km/10 minute drive from the town of Obzor, a seaside town with much development in pr ...

. The Cherno More motorway is expected to considerably shorten the journey between the two cities, since the traffic is slowed down significantly by the narrow passage of the

Balkan Mountains The Balkan mountain range (, , known locally also as Stara planina) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border betw ...

between

Nesebar Nesebar (often transcribed as Nessebar and sometimes as Nesebur, bg, Несебър, pronounced ) is an ancient city and one of the major seaside resorts on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast, located in Burgas Province. It is the administrative centr ...

and

Obzor Obzor ( bg, Обзор ) is a small town and seaside resort on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. It is part of Nesebar Municipality, Burgas Province. On February 28th, 2021, the citizens of Obzor and six nearby villages voted in a referendum to sepa ...

, especially during the summer season. As part of the Bulgarian motorway network, the motorway is to be linked with the

Hemus motorway The Hemus motorway (, ) or Haemus motorway, designated A2, is a partially built motorway in Bulgaria. Its planned length is 418 km, of which 191 km are in operation . The motorway in operation is divided into two sections — the first ...

(A2) near Varna and with the

Trakia motorway The Trakia motorway (, ) or Thrace motorway, designated A1, is a motorway in Bulgaria. It connects the capital city of Sofia, the city of Plovdiv and the city of Burgas on the Black Sea coast. The motorway is named after the historical region of ...

(A1) near Burgas, both leading to the capital

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and ha ...

. The motorway is not included for financing by the allocated for Bulgaria EU funds, unlike other motorways in the country. In 2011 the

National Company "Strategic Infrastructure Projects" The National Company Strategic Infrastructure Projects (NCSIP) was a parallel road agency in Bulgaria during the 2011 - 2016 period. NCSIP was created with the amendments in the Bulgarian Roads Act in 2011. The company was a state enterprise subordi ...

was established. One of the main aims of this state-run company is to assess and update all preliminary design works and

feasibility studies A feasibility study is an assessment of the practicality of a project or system. A feasibility study aims to objectively and rationally uncover the strengths and weaknesses of an existing business or proposed venture, opportunities and threats pr ...

. In November 2013 the government announced talks to complete the remaining sections of the motorway with a loan from the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

Exim bank. The construction works are estimated to cost up to €307m. The motorway is named after the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

, which translates to "Cherno More" in

Bulgarian Bulgarian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Bulgaria * Bulgarians, a South Slavic ethnic group * Bulgarian language, a Slavic language * Bulgarian alphabet * A citizen of Bulgaria, see Demographics of Bulgaria * Bul ...

Exits

References

External links

Feasibility study
at NCSIP ''(in Bulgarian)'' Motorways in Bulgaria Proposed roads in Bulgaria Pan-European Corridor VIII {{Bulgaria-road-stub