Apparently Romania has amongst the least amount of motorways in Europe ....
.... a legacy of the Ceaușescu years.
But the arrival of what passes for democracy in that country has not improved the situation much, and many parts of the country have no, or virtually no motorways with just 806km (500 miles) of motorway throughout a country the size of the UK. The region of Moldavia is one such area, and this causes great frustration to the locals.
So when Stefan Mandachi, a local fast-food entrepreneur ran a campaign, "Romania wants Motorways", for more motorways in the region, it sparked a lot of interest and support. He backed this up by starting to build his own motorway in the city of Suceava, spending £3,800 (€4,400; $5,000), of his own money ...... the catch was that it was only going to be one metre long.
The grand opening ceremony attracted a large number of people from the media and locals, and nationally mayors, companies, and even footballers joined in Stefan Mandachi's "Romania Wants Roads" protest.
Whether his campaign changes much is open to debate .... corruption haunts all public infrastructure projects in the country. In 2016, a new motorway in southern Transylvania quickly earned the nickname the "highway of shame". It had to be inaugurated twice because it needed repair work almost immediately, and was then demolished a year later after a spate of safety concerns due to the poor materials and construction methods employed.
In the meantime the official response to his mini motorway was for Razvan Cuc, Romania's minister of transport, to declare the Mandachi road 'illegal due to a lack of permits'. But he told local media that he understood Mr Mandachi's concerns. A later claim that a new 'Moldavian motorway' would commence soon, was met with the observation by Mr Mandachi that "I don't see anything, I don't see a construction site."
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| Motorway Madness In Romania .... |
.... a legacy of the Ceaușescu years.
But the arrival of what passes for democracy in that country has not improved the situation much, and many parts of the country have no, or virtually no motorways with just 806km (500 miles) of motorway throughout a country the size of the UK. The region of Moldavia is one such area, and this causes great frustration to the locals.
So when Stefan Mandachi, a local fast-food entrepreneur ran a campaign, "Romania wants Motorways", for more motorways in the region, it sparked a lot of interest and support. He backed this up by starting to build his own motorway in the city of Suceava, spending £3,800 (€4,400; $5,000), of his own money ...... the catch was that it was only going to be one metre long.
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| The Worlds Shortest Motorway ..... One Metre |
The grand opening ceremony attracted a large number of people from the media and locals, and nationally mayors, companies, and even footballers joined in Stefan Mandachi's "Romania Wants Roads" protest.
Whether his campaign changes much is open to debate .... corruption haunts all public infrastructure projects in the country. In 2016, a new motorway in southern Transylvania quickly earned the nickname the "highway of shame". It had to be inaugurated twice because it needed repair work almost immediately, and was then demolished a year later after a spate of safety concerns due to the poor materials and construction methods employed.
In the meantime the official response to his mini motorway was for Razvan Cuc, Romania's minister of transport, to declare the Mandachi road 'illegal due to a lack of permits'. But he told local media that he understood Mr Mandachi's concerns. A later claim that a new 'Moldavian motorway' would commence soon, was met with the observation by Mr Mandachi that "I don't see anything, I don't see a construction site."
It's surprising that the UK has such a low number of motorway roads. Perhaps that's why our roads are so congested?
ReplyDeleteThe UK actually has rather poor infrastructure. Unworkable planning laws are the reason ... look at the third runway at Heathrow airport debacle ... a fiasco that few other countries would allow to happen. Thanks for the comment.
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