Maritsa motorway

In October 2010, a 31 km section of the Maritsa motorway between the towns of Harmanli and Lyubimets officially opened to traffic.[4] The new interchange at Kapitan Petvo Voyvoda neighbourhood of Svilengrad, providing direct connection with the border crossing to Greece, also opened in October 2010. During construction, 6000-year-old Neolithic remains were found near Haskovo.[5] The bypass of Kapitan Andreevo village in the border area entered service in August 2014.[6] The construction of Haskovo-Harmanli section began in July 2011 and was completed on 28 May 2015.[7] A 8.6 kilometres (5.3 mi) long second carriageway near Svilengrad was inaugurated on 7 June 2015, while the other carriageway had been built during the 1980s.[8] The last remaining section, between Chirpan and Haskovo, entered service on 29 October 2015.[3]

The construction of the Chirpan-Haskovo and the Haskovo-Harmanli sections of the motorway were co-funded by EU funds allocated for Bulgaria,[9] while a small section at the Turkish border was co-funded with a loan from the IBRD.[10] Its route runs parallel to the existing major road 8, which is mainly two-lane and carried much of the road freight to and from Turkey and the Middle East. The completion of the Maritsa motorway attempts to reduce this congestion.