Investing in Road Safety and Improving the Connectivity of Ruse Municipality and Giurgiu County to TEN-T Transport Network

The present project, proposed by Ruse Municipality and Giurgiu County Council, addresses the common territorial challenges present both in the Romanian and Bulgarian part of the CBC area concerning the accessibility and security of the secondary and tertiary nodes which provide connection to the TEN-T infrastructure. Currently the poor quality of the connecting road infrastructure in Ruse Municipality and Giurgiu County and the lack of joint cross-border mechanisms and common measures concerning traffic security and safety lead to accessibility and mobility difficulties in the CBC region, including: bad road connectivity and isolation of settlements or parts of settlements, high risk of road accidents, traffic jams, etc. These issues result in increased travelling times, higher vehicle operating costs, accidents and damage to the environment. Furthermore, these bad conditions present serious obstacles to the economic growth of the CBC area and significantly hinder the development of the regions potential. The poor connectivity to the TEN-T network and the limited road links between medium and big urban centres impede the mobility of people and goods and strongly discourage local and foreign investments. In this context, re-connecting the region by improving and modernizing the road infrastructure on both sides of the border and the development of joint strategies and measures for its management will have a considerably positive effect on the socio-economic life in the cross-border area, thus improving the accessibility to the TEN-T network. In this respect, the overall objective of the current project is to contribute to the sustainable and safe mobility of people and goods in the CBC area through applying coordinated cross-border actions for the improvement and maintenance of the road infrastructure connected to the TEN-T network and using joint mechanisms for planning and common actions in the field traffic safety and security. The actions proposed in the project include: 1. Reconstruction and modernization of 3.1 km of road covering the key for the City of Ruse Blvd. "Treti Mart" and the connected to it Bridge "Sarayski" which together act as primary point of entry to the city from the main roads Ruse–Veliko Tarnovo and Ruse–Sofia – part of the TEN-T network, and installation of traffic monitoring cameras and signalling equipment; 2. Delivery of equipment for cross-border traffic monitoring and road security in Giurgiu County - road signalling equipment, border traffic monitoring equipment, equipment for road accidents prevention and relevant necessary equipment for county roads current and periodical maintenance works which will be used exclusively for keeping good road conditions and providing high level of fluency and traffic security by road repair and current and periodical maintenance works execution on the specific county roads connected to TEN-T network. 3. Development of a Joint Traffic Security Strategy for Ruse-Giurgiu CBC Region with the active involvement of all relevant stakeholders from both sides of the border, incl. traffic police, border police, fire departments and civil protection units, transport and road maintenance relevant institutions, etc.; 4. Conducting joint awareness campaigns for traffic security education of the population in partnership with relevant stakeholder institutions on both sides of the border. As result, the project will contribute to the objective of the programme in the three relevant output indicators: for I1 – Total length of reconstructed or upgraded roads – with 3.1 km of road (Blvd. "Treti Mart" and Bridge "Sarayski"), representing 7.74% of the 40.06 km set as target to be achieved under the present call; for I2 – Number of joint mechanisms to facilitate the connection of secondary/tertiary nodes to TEN-T infrastructure – with 3 joint mechanisms, representing 13.64% of the 22 joint mechanisms set as target, namely – the elaboration of 1 Joint Traffic Security Strategy for Ruse-Giurgiu CBC Region; implementation of 1 joint mechanism for traffic monitoring and road security realized by the implementation of identical in nature traffic monitoring and security measures; and 1 joint mechanism for carrying out joint awareness campaigns for traffic security education of the population in partnership with relevant stakeholder institutions on both sides of the border; and for I5 - Financial indicator – with 7 mln. euro, representing 13.89% of the 50,389,343.26 euro set as target to be achieved under the call. The project indicative budget amounts to 7 000 000 euro (4 500 000 for Ruse Municipality and 2 500 000 euro for Giurgiu County Council). Taking into consideration all the abovementioned, the current project fully fits into the EU Danube Region Strategy, primarily with a view to its contribution to the better connectivity and the safer and more convenient and efficient mobility within the region. In this way, also the people-to-people actions will be facilitated and encouraged including trade, economic and culture exchange, thus contributing to the general competitiveness and attractiveness of the cross-border area and to the improvement of the accessibility to the TEN-T network. Furthermore, the project will have a significant added value towards strengthening the institutional capacity and cooperation across national borders.

The main project results the main project results achieved are: Under Activity T1 “Implementation of joint mechanisms”, both project beneficiaries performed educational campaigns related to the traffic security education of the population. The LB performed the first educational campaign, in Ruse in the end of October 2020. 50 students and stakeholder representatives took part. The second educational campaign was held in Giurgiu in the middle of May 2021. 58 students and Romanian stakeholder representatives took part at the event. For the scopes of Activity T.1 “Implementation of joint mechanisms”, B2 – Giurgiu County Council purchased Road Maintenance equipment for the Giurgiu County Road Department, namely Autogreder, Asphalt finisher, Articulated Tandem Vibrating Roller, Asphalt cutter, Pillars Beating Installation For Vehicle Parapet and 8x4 Dump Truck With Snow Removal Equipment. In addition, Road signs were acquisitioned for Giurgiu County Road Administration and Traffic Control (DJTADJCT) and given in free use to the Council Directorate for Transport. Furthermore, 4 TETRA stations were acquisitioned, which were also given for free use to Giurgiu Traffic Police - Giurgiu. Within the frame of the same Activity T.1 ““Implementation of joint mechanisms”, B2 – TAU Giurgiu County elaborated a joint traffic security strategy in EN and BG language. The final version of the document is available to the general public and the interested stakeholders - Giurgiu County Council official website: https://cjgiurgiu.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Strategia-comuna-de-securitate-a-traficului-pentru-regiunea-CBC- Giurgiu-Ruse.pdf . The LB – Ruse Municipality modernized the cross border infrastructure through the finalization of Stage 1 – “Treti mart” blvd. from the road junction “Saraya” (km 0 + 341.58) to the intersection with “Kapitan Raycho Nikolov” str. (km 1+551.88)” and Stage II “Treti mart” blvd. from the intersection with “Kapitan Raycho Nikolov” (km 1+551.88) to the connections with road РП I-5 “Ruse - V. Tarnovo” and Stage 3 “Bridge facility at road junction "Saraya", incl. the road connections to the junction”. Theproject is contributing with 3.1 km of road facilitating access to TEN-T network out of total 3.1 km foreseen. Thus, at Programme level, the number of 166.300 Cross border population is served by modernized infrastructure leading to TEN-T. Moreover, a traffic light system with 2 LED indicators and 5 road signs have been installed in the zone West of the border crossing point on the Bulgarian side to monitor the traffic on the bridge and prevent the formation of truck tails on it. At project level, throughout its implementation, there were created 3 joint mechanisms in order to facilitate the connection of secondary/tertiary nodes to the TEN-T infrastructure, represented by 1 Joint Traffic Security Strategy for Ruse-Giurgiu CBC Region, 1 joint mechanism for traffic monitoring and road security realized by the implementation of identical in nature traffic monitoring and security measures and 1 joint mechanism for carrying out joint awareness campaigns for traffic security education of the population in partnership with relevant stakeholder institutions on both sides of the border.

The implementation of the hard and soft activities in the project (1: reconstruction and modernization of Blvd. "Treti mart" and Bridge "Sarayski" acting as a primary point of entry to the city of Ruse from the main roads Ruse–Veliko Tarnovo and Ruse–Sofia – part of the TEN-T network; 2: delivery of road and safety maintenance equipment for the roads providing the connection to the TEN-T network in Giurgiu County; 3: development of a Joint Traffic Security Strategy for Ruse-Giurgiu CBC Region; and 4: conducting joint awareness raising campaigns for traffic security education of the population in partnership with relevant stakeholder institutions on both sides of the border) will assure the sustainable mobility of persons and goods and will provide faster and safer accessibility to the strategic objects in the Ruse-Giurgiu region. Thus, the project will contribute to the result indicator I6 - "Cross border population served by modernized infrastructure leading to TEN-T" with 433 079 people (167 585 citizens in Ruse Municipality and 265 494 citizens in Giurgiu County according to official statistics from the 2011 census). This population will be served by the reconstructed and modernized infrastructure leading to TEN-T and represents 69.42% from the 623 860 people in the CBC area set as target (although already achieved under the previous calls) for the Programme.