Austrian construction company PORR has started work on section 4 of the A1 Sibiu – Pitesti highway and has started the construction of the first real highway tunnel under construction in Romania, one of the longest such structures on the entire highway from Pitesti to Sibiu.

The Austrians from PORR signed a contract worth about 1.7 billion lei back in November 2021 for the construction of 9.86 kilometers of motorway between Curtia de Arges and Tigweni – part 4 of the A1 Sibiu – Pitesti. As of March 2022, the design has been completed (a period of 16 months), but the developer has already started the first large-scale works on the site on the hottest site: a tunnel drilled under Momaya Hill, about 1,350 meters long. Even if it is a tunnel under a hill, the construction method is the same as for tunnels in mountainous terrain.

In fact, we are talking about one of the longest tunnels on the A1 highway and practically the first road tunnel to be built in Romania.

The official completion date is 2026, but given the complexity of the work, it is quite possible that the project will be postponed to 2027.

Highway A1 Sibiu – Pitesti – Section 4: Tigueni – Curtia de Arges

Length: 9.86 km

PRODUCER: Porr Construct (Austria)

Value: 1,678,873,121.77 lei without VAT.

Contracted: November 2021

Work has begun: March 2022

Contract term: 16 months of design + 44 months of execution

Within the framework of the contract, several works of high complexity will be created, namely:

• Construction of 12 bridges, crossings and/or viaducts, with an average length of 230 m, of which the longest is Viaduct at km. 84+341, 630m long.

• Construction of a 1,350 m long tunnel in the Momaya Hill Crossing Area, Argesh County.

Stage of work on each section of the A1 Sibiu – Pitesti highway

The Sibiu-Pitesti highway will be over 122 km long and will be divided into 5 sections and will connect Central and Western Romania with the European highway network, being an important part of the 4th Pan-European Corridor.

• On the A1 Sibiu – Pitesti traffic is opened in December 2022 Chapter 1 (13.17 km from Sibiu to Boita – constructor Porr).
• Currently working on Chapter 5, 30 km from Pitesti to Kurta de Arges (developer Astaldi). Here, the builder achieved a physical advance of more than 33%. See here an image of the future interchange from Baskov, from the current end of the A1 Bucharest – Pitesti.
• Enabled WITHsection 4 Curtea de Argeș – Tigveni, the Austrians from PORR are currently working on the design and the first works have already started in 2023.
• Enabled WITHsection 3 an association of construction workers from Italy and Romania signed in August 2022 the contract for the most expensive motorway tender ever held in Romania. In this area, the developer is theoretically at the design stage.
• Enabled WITHsection 2, the most difficult section that passes through the Olt Valley and involves the construction of seven tunnels, CNAIR signed a €860 million contract with a Turkish company in February 2022. And here, at the moment, the developer is at the design stage.

Photo: sections on the A1 Sibiu – Pitesti highway

SEE ALSO:

• VIDEO What the future intersection of the Baskov road looks like now, from the end of the A1 highway to Pitesti / Work is ongoing. What will it look like in the end?
• VIDEO. The Chinese searched for the first road in Romania: it should have been ready, but it was only half completed
• VIDEO The expressway in the west of the country will be ready this year. How it looks now