VIDEO | The Chinese started work on the E85 junction with the “museum highway” in the North of the Capital ahead of schedule

The works at the junction between the Bucharest Highway and the E85, in the area of ​​the Afumați commune, were started ahead of schedule. The tender for Lot 3 of the A0 North, awarded by a Chinese state-controlled consortium, called for 12 months for design which would theoretically have meant actual construction starting after May 23, 2024. An aerial shot, taken in late April, surprised several machines working to uncover the vegetation layer on the path to the almost seven kilometers of lot 2 of the A0 Corbeanca-Afumati which, although they have been ready for almost half a year, still cannot be used.

The contract for the execution of lot 3 A0 Nord, which will close the Northeast ring of the Bucharest Motorway, between Corbeanca and Cernica, was won by China Civil Engineering Costruction LTD, a consortium controlled by the Chinese State. The work, worth approximately 80 million euros without VAT, provides for a period of 12 months for design and another 18 months for execution. According to CNAIR, the date of the order to start the works was May 22, 2023. Theoretically, this would have meant that the actual works would start after May 23, 2024.

On April 26, an aerial video taken by Infrastructura Romania caught several machines in the DN2/E85 area working on uncovering the vegetation layer but also on a series of drillings in order to start the works on the 8.5 kilometer Afumați-Pantelimon section.

The works are necessary in order to connect with the almost seven kilometers of A0 Corbeanca-Afumati, completed last year but unused due to faulty contracting at the level of CNAIR which did not take into account a direct connection with E85.

In total, it is about two stumps, one near the commune of Corbeanca, and one towards Afumați, which accumulate 9.33 kilometers of the 19 kilometers of Lot 2 of the A0 North and which are closed to traffic.

As for the segment from DN2, over seven kilometers long, the authorities have not been able to find even a breakdown solution in recent years, to unload traffic to A3 and DN1.

The upgrades from Afumati

Meanwhile, the National Road Infrastructure Administration Company received four offers for the feasibility study required for the modernization of a segment of DN 2 Bucharest-Urziceni (E85), also in the area of ​​Afumați.

Specifically, the feasibility study required for the modernization of National Road 2 Bucharest-Urziceni (E85) targets a seven-kilometer sector where underground pedestrian passages will also be built. In fact, in 2022, CNAIR signed a contract of over 40 million lei for the modernization of DN 2 on a 4-kilometer section (km 7 – km 11) from Voluntari, aimed at repairs to the passage over the Bucharest Ring Road and the execution of five other pedestrian crossings underground.

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