The number of Romanians crossing the Giurgiu-Ruse bridge is more than twice as high as before the full accession of Romania and Bulgaria to Schengen. The regional prefect of Ruse, Dragomir Draganov, estimates that the second section of the bridge, over 400 meters long, will be completed in May.
The Giurgiu-Ruse Bridge. PHOTO archive
On January 1, the last border barrier between the two countries was erected, at the Giurgiu-Ruse border crossing point on the bridge that crosses the Danube, after Romania and Bulgaria fully entered the Schengen area.
The number of Romanians crossing into Bulgaria and of Bulgarians coming to Romania increased substantially in the first days of 2025. The Bulgarian authorities speak of an average of more than 5,000 cars that crossed the Giurgiu-Ruse bridge at the beginning of this week, compared to an average of 2000, previously, according to the Bulgarian media.
On Wednesday, however, the second stage of the bridge’s repair work began, and traffic will run on a single lane, with the waiting time for lines of cars and trucks crossing the bridge during the repair work being estimated at seven minutes in each appropriate direction Rador press agency
By May 15 at the latest, the repairs on the section where work is being carried out are to be completed, announced the regional prefect of Ruse, Dragomir Draganov, according to the quoted source. The full completion of the repair works is estimated in the summer of next year.
Even under the conditions of carrying out the aforementioned works, the interest of Romanians in traveling to Bulgaria is high, given not only by the tourist attractions of the neighboring country, but also by the possibility of making cheaper purchases.
Cigarettes are among them, it being known that the price of tobacco in Bulgaria is lower than in Romania.
