The Sofia ring road ( bg, Софийски околовръстен път, ''Sofíyski okolovrásten pat''), also called in Bulgarian Okolovrástnoto shosé (''Околовръстното шосе'', The ring chaussée), often shortened to just Okolovrástnoto (''Околовръстното'', literally The ring haussée is an important thoroughfare surrounding

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 capital of

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 ...

. The

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

is around 60 km long and has recently been upgraded on several sections, with plans to further improve it on the remaining sections. __NOTOC__

Sections

The Sofia ring road is divided into four sections (arcs), at south, north, west and east. A major part of southern arc has been significantly upgraded in several stages between 2007 and 2012, providing now a conflict-free connection between the

Boyana Boyana ( bg, Бояна ) is a neighbourhood of the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, part of Vitosha municipality and situated 8 km south of the city centre, in the outskirts of Vitosha. Boyana is one of the most expensive parts of Sofia to l ...

and the Mladost IV junctions. The next planned upgrade on the southern section will be between the

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.

district and the Lyulin motorway ''(A6)'', which may begin after 2013. The segment between Mladost and

Tsarigradsko shose Tsarigradsko shose ( bg, Цариградско шосе, lit= Tsarigrad (Istanbul) Chausseé (Road)) is the largest boulevard in the capital of Bulgaria, Sofia. The boulevard provides grade-separated dual carriageway in almost its entire length o ...

blvd /

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)'' interchange has conceptual design since 2015, with a proposal to be upgraded with an EIB loan. The eastern arc, which lies between the

''(A1)'' and 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)'', is grade-separated and provides three traffic lanes and a hard shoulder in each direction. Though, it's not signed as a motorway and a speed limit applies. In the northern part of city, the Northern Speed Tangent connects the Mramor village with the

Hemus Hemus may refer to: * ''Hemus'' (crab), a genus of spider crabs * Haemus, a Thracian king in Greek mythology * Haemus Mons, ancient name of the Balkan Mountains (Bulgaria) * Hemus Air, a Bulgarian airline * Hemus (publishing house), a Bulgaria ...

motorway. It is a

controlled-access A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

highway, designed to carry the transit traffic and supersedes the existing northern arc. It was tendered in 2012, the construction works began in 2015. and it was inaugurated in April 2016. The western arc is completely upgraded to a

grade-separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tran ...

status, between the

Lyulin motorway The Struma Motorway (, ) is a motorway currently under construction in Bulgaria. The motorway is located in the Yugozapaden area in South West Bulgaria, and follows the route Sofia-Pernik-Dupnitsa-Blagoevgrad-Sandanski to Kulata on the border with ...

(A6) and the Northern Speed Tangent. The first section, between the Lyulin motorway and the Kakach river, was constructed between 2012 and 2015. The second section, between the Kakach river and the Northern Speed Tangent, was tendered in 2013 but the tender later failed. A second tender was announced in 2014 and the construction began in October 2015. It was inaugurated on 13 September 2016.

References

Gallery

File:Околовръстен път на София.JPG, Sofia ring road near Simeonovsko chaussée junction File:Circular-road-overpass-at-E79.jpg, Sofia ring road near the Botevgradsko chaussée junction File:Sofia ring highway south part 20090405 012.JPG, Looking at

Vitosha Vitosha ( bg, Витоша ), the ancient ''Scomius'' or ''Scombrus'', is a mountain massif, on the outskirts of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Vitosha is one of the symbols of Sofia and the closest site for hiking, alpinism and skiing. Conveni ...

File:Sofia ringroad in front of National historic museum 20090405 007.JPG, Next to the National Historical Museum {{coord missing, Bulgaria Ring roads Roads in Bulgaria Transport in Sofia

Sections

See also

References

Gallery