Opening of New Hwy Junction Not Delayed – Bulgarian Road Agency Head

The cause of the deadly chain crash at the Yana road junction on Monday is yet to be made clear. Photo by BGNES

The new Yana road junction connecting the Hemus Highway to the Sofia Ring Road could not have been opened earlier without road safety risks, according to Lazar Lazarov, Chair of the Management Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency.

In a Tuesday interview for the morning broadcast of the Bulgarian National Television, Lazarov refuted accusations of Boyko Borisov, leader of center-right party GERB, that the road junction should have been launched two days earlier due to the intense traffic in this region.

The cause of the deadly chain crash at the Yana road junction on Monday is yet to be made clear.

The traffic accident claimed two lives just a few hours ahead of the opening of the road junction.

"There has been tension in the region for over a month, since the company started work on connecting the new road section to the existing road network. What prevented us from launching it earlier was the procedure for guaranteeing the safety of the facility," Lazarov said, adding that a committee had started checking for irregularities at the site and a number of minor problems were to be eliminated.

He noted that he felt responsible for Monday's traffic accident.

"It hurts me to think that car crashes are happening at road sections where the incidence of traffic accidents should be low," Lazarov said.

We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!