The Maritsa motorway (Bulgarian: Автомагистрала „Марица“, Avtomagistrala "Maritsa"), designated A4, is a motorway in Bulgaria, part of the Pan-European Corridor IV, between the Trakia motorway (A1), at the town of Chirpan, and Kapitan Andreevo, at the Turkish border.
 | |
|---|---|
| Автомагистрала „Марица“ | |
 Maritsa motorway highlighted in red and yellow | |
| Route information | |
Part of  E80 | |
| Length | 117 km (73 mi) |
| Major junctions | |
| West end |  A1 near Chirpan |
| East end |  D.100 near Kapitan Andreevo |
| Location | |
| Country | Bulgaria |
| Major cities | Dimitrovgrad, Haskovo, Svilengrad |
| Highway system | |
The planned completion of the last remaining stretch of the motorway was in 2013,[1] but a delay occurred[2] and the complete motorway enterеd service in October 2015.[3]
It is named after the Maritsa River.
History
In October 2010, a 31 km section of the Maritsa motorway between the towns of Harmanli and Lyubimets officially opened to traffic.[4] The new interchange at Kapitan Petvo Voyvoda neighbourhood of Svilengrad, providing direct connection with the border crossing to Greece, also opened in October 2010. During construction, 6000-year-old Neolithic remains were found near Haskovo.[5] The bypass of Kapitan Andreevo village in the border area entered service in August 2014.[6] The construction of Haskovo-Harmanli section began in July 2011 and was completed on 28 May 2015.[7] A 8.6 kilometres (5.3 mi) long second carriageway near Svilengrad was inaugurated on 7 June 2015, while the other carriageway had been built during the 1980s.[8] The last remaining section, between Chirpan and Haskovo, entered service on 29 October 2015.[3]
The construction of the Chirpan-Haskovo and the Haskovo-Harmanli sections of the motorway were co-funded by EU funds allocated for Bulgaria,[9] while a small section at the Turkish border was co-funded with a loan from the IBRD.[10] Its route runs parallel to the existing major road 8, which is mainly two-lane and carried much of the road freight to and from Turkey and the Middle East. The completion of the Maritsa motorway attempts to reduce this congestion.
Exits
 | This article contains a bulleted list or table of intersections which should be presented in a properly formatted junction table. (November 2021) |
| Exit | km | Destinations | Lanes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
  |
0 |  (Sofia, Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Yambol, Burgas) |
 |
In service |
 |
17,8 | Zlatna Livada | |
In service |
|
38,8 | Haskovo, Dimitrovgrad   |
|
In service |
|
65,6 | Simeonovgrad, Harmanli | |
In service |
|
70,3 | Topolovgrad, Harmanli | |
In service |
|
89,4 | Lyubimets | |
In service |
|
99,2 | Svilengrad-west;   |
|
In service |
|
102,5 | Svilengrad | |
In service |
|
114 | Kapitan Andreevo  |
|
In service |
  |
117,3 | Kapitan Andreevo;  Edirne D100
, Istanbul  |
|
In service |
References
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