How to drive on the new DX 16 expressway that connects the Oradea belt…

Dozens of drivers greeted the opening of traffic on the connecting road between the Oradea Beltway and the Transilvania Highway, which was named DX 16 and began to be used by hundreds of vehicles on Thursday, with the sound of horns.

Put on waze

Since 2:45 p.m., a long line of trucks and cars was waiting for the opening of the road blocking a piece of hundreds of meters of the Oradea belt, from the passage that passes over Calea Aradului to the end of Căia Sântandreiului, where DX 16 begins with a passage which crosses both the city belt and the Oradea – Timișoara railway.

5 minutes before the scheduled time, at 2:55 p.m., the Waze application was updated to indicate the new road, and at 3:00 p.m. the convoy set off, led by a Traffic Police crew.

Bihor traveled the new road, stretched for 19 km and having two lanes in each direction with separators between the directions, from Calea Sântandreiului to Biharia, and then also in the opposite direction, reviewing the connections with other roads.

5 links

About 3 kilometers after the passage from Calea Sântandreiuluialong which the road winds approximately parallel to the railway and crosses with a passage Bujac street (the one built in 2018 by Oradea City Hall between the Ioșia Nord and Sântandrei neighborhoods), and then Crișul Repede with a spectacular bridge, with 8 openings, the second way up/down on DX 16 it is made by braces next to Augustin Maior Street in Oradea to provide access to the Industrial Park in Borșului Road and next to the communal road to/from Sântion.

A third connection of the DX 16 is with Borșului Roadthrough additional lanes on both sides and roundabouts with it, ensuring both ascent and descent from DN 1.

The fourth node is provided at km 11, towards Satu Marebut it won’t be put into use until next week, because it’s still undergoing finishing touches.

The last one is the connecting node with A3 on the territory of the commune of Biharia, with discharge towards the border point Borș II, thus joining the 5.35 km section of the highway built by Selina three years ago, but also DN 19 towards Satu Mare.

10 minutes instead of 40-60

The new road, crossed in the first hour by hundreds of vehicles registered in Bihor, in other counties of Romania, but also abroad, proves its clear utility for the TIRs that enter or leave the country via Borș II and head either to Oradea , either towards Arad and then towards Timișoara, or towards Cluj, without congesting the town of Biharia, the Episcopia Bihor district and then the Oradea Belt from the area of ​​Ștefan cel Mare boulevard to Calea Sântandreiului.

At the same time, the 19 km of DX 16 prove to be extremely useful for drivers traveling from DN 79 in the direction of Arad both towards Borșului Road (for example to the Industrial Park or to Borș I customs), and in the direction of DN 19 towards Satu Mare and vice versa. They can avoid moving at lower speeds and the risk of traffic jams on the Oradea Ring in its eastern part.

“On a 3-kilometer section from Calea Sântandreiului to the area of ​​Bujac Street, the new road has a national road regime, so the speed limit is 90 km/h, and in the next 16 kilometers, up to Biharia, it is configured as an express road, with a speed limit of 120 km/h”, he explained BIHOREAN engineer Marius Mitrofan (photo below)the project manager of Strabag, which built the DX 16. “With an average speed of 100 km/h, drivers who choose the new road can cover it in about 10 minutes,” he added.

Drivers who travel frequently from the Căia Sântandreiului area to Biharia using the Oradea Belt “spend” between 40 and 60 minutes (depending on the time slot and traffic values), so DX 16 can significantly shorten their travel time.

Also, the new road can be used with just as much benefit by the residents of Bihor who commute from DN 79 to the companies in the Industrial Park of Oradei, they can go up the new road in Calea Sântandreiului and get off in the area of ​​Augustin Maior Street.

Downsides?

A minus, at least on the first day of use of the new road, is the slowing down of the traffic flow on the Oradea ring road in the Căia Sântandreiului area, on the direction from Ogorului street, most likely caused by the fact that drivers have not yet gotten used to pre-select in time and correctly the lane to enter in order to go up the DX 16 passage, to continue moving by turning towards the town of Sântandrei or to turn right to continue on the belt towards the Ovid Densușianu area.

Another minus can be interpreted as the fact that the residents of Sântandrei who work in the companies on Borșului Road cannot use DX unless they go up it using the passage from Calea Sântandreiului, not being able to enter from Bujac Street for the simple reason that, as otherwise was normal , the two roads (one with a high-speed regime, the other with a specific limit of a county road) do not intersect, DX crossing the street with an overpass.

See how the new road looks at night, in the video below, made by Marin Marian!