February 14 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's state-owned Avtomagistrali has started reconstruction works on a tube of the Vitinya tunnel on the Hemus motorway under a contract worth an estimated 50 million levs ($27.7 million/25.6 million euro), the government's Road Infrastructure Agency (RIA) said.
Works will include the strenghthening of the walls of the tube in the direction of Sofia by inserting 55 anchor bolts through the walls into the rock behind them, RIA said in a statement.
Avtomagistrali will also be responsible for the construction of three transverse tubes - two for pedestrians and one for vehicles, to link the two main tubes of the Vitinya tunnel and to be used in case of emergency.
After the completion of the project, the tube in direction of Sofia will have new cladding, hydro-insulation and water drainage system as well as new pavement. Construction works are expected to be concluded in the second half of 2020.
Bulgaria needs to overhaul the Vitinya tunnel in order to comply with EU rules on tunnel safety, RIA said.
The Vitinya tunnel has two tubes - one in direction of Sofia, and another one in direction of Varna, on the Black Sea coast. This is Bulgaria's longest road tunnel - 1.2 km in length.
Avtomagistrali is currently working on the completion of the Hemus motorway which will link Sofia to the city of Varna, on the Black Sea coast. Some 170 km of the motorway's total length of 420 km have already been built.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)