VIDEO | Constructor TRACE increases the pace of execution on Lot 2 of the Ploiesti-Buzău motorway

There is a lot of excitement on the site of Lot 2 of the Ploiesti – Buzău motorway, between Mizil and Pietroasele (about 30 km). The Bulgarian constructor Trace, winner of the tender for this section, together with the Romanians from Coni, mobilized hundreds of people and machinery to increase the pace of the works, taking advantage of the good weather. By the end of next year, this segment will be open, promised Georgi Ivanov, Trace Romania project manager.

The good weather is with who can increase the pace of work on these sunny days. There is no exception to this rule, and Trace wants to show its operational capability.

“For Trace, in Romania, it is the main project. Our strategy, the business strategy for Trace, is to stay, to be here, in Romania. In our part of the motorway we have 20 kilometers, the other 10 kilometers are being built by our partner in Romania, and our lot is about 30 kilometers,” Georgi Ivanov, Trace Romania project manager, told Gândul exclusively.

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Eleven months after the signing of the work start order, the route of the motorway has taken physical shape. All well and good, but weather has long been the builder’s enemy. Then came the archaeological discoveries and again no work could be done because specialists blocked the site. The problems with the loan pits but also the beams followed.

Now, here and there, structures are appearing here and there, as yet made of concrete iron. These are the pillars that will support the bridges over the high-speed road. The next level has already been reached.

“At the beginning we had nothing. Look at it now. We have an asphalt plant, we have a concrete plant, we have a cement plant with concrete aggregates, drainage materials, with offices and everything. Everything is functioning right now”, Ivanov continued.

A builder by trade, for Georgi Ivanov there was no „hardest problem”. As an engineer, whatever impediment arose, he had to solve it.

„On the construction site each job is specific, I can’t compare one job with another… for me it’s just day-to-day work”, says the man who in 2018 was nominated, by Trace, the builder of the year, for coordinating the works on the Aheloy belt, well-known to the Romanian tourists who drive to the Bulgarian coast.

As weather permitted, Trace mobilized more resources on site.

„Now we have around 300 people along the entire length of the site and 170 machines and machinery,” says Georgi Ivanov.

And the rush is visible from a distance. Heavy lorries are moving over dozens of kilometers, hauling material to stabilize the future carriageway of the motorway.

„We need to move well and fast. Next year, by the end of the year, there will be traffic here”, says the Trace Romania project manager.

In order for everything to be turnkey, for the work to have a 10-year guarantee and for the road to be safe, there is work to be done beyond the asphalt, from sunrise to midnight. And the quantities of materials are beyond imagination.

“People generally don’t imagine what goes underground. We’ve executed 12 kilometers of drilled piles, all underground.  Earthworks (editor’s note, earth fills) of 600,000 cubic meters.  These quantities are not generally seen by people.  They only see the asphalt. On our side, which is almost 20 kilometers long, there will be almost 300,000 tons of asphalt. It’s a huge amount. Huge. A small mountain!”, added Georgi Ivanov. The man who, after his interview on the site where cars will be speeding next year, returned to his office where people were waiting for him. Either to co-ordinate work on site or in the area where aggregates, concrete and asphalt are produced.

At the moment, works on this segment of the Ploiesti-Buzău Motorway, the first section of the Moldova Motorway, have reached a physical stage of 20%.

Technical Data

Lot 2 of the Ploiesti-Buzău motorway, part of the Moldova motorway (A7), Mizil – Pietroasele is about 30 km long.

The lot is built by the Trace – Coni association.

Trace Sector

Large structures (bridges and passages): 15 – 6,400 cubic metres of cast concrete, reinforcement 900 tons.

Pilots: 12 km

Average pilots’ depth: 25 m

Pilot diameter: 1.2 m

Cast concrete: approximately 10,000 cubic meters.

Bridges: 21 – 1,200 cubic meters of cast concrete, reinforcements 55 tons.

Earthworks (editor’s note: earth fills): 600,000 cubic meters out of a total of 2,000,000 cubic meters.

Asphalt cast on 20 km: 300,000 tons.

The contract was signed on June 7, 2022, and the order to start work was issued on August 11, 2022

The contract has a value of 1.25 billion lei (without VAT)

The works are financed by PNRR.

The warranty period for the works is 10 years.

The Ploiesti – Buzau highway is 63.25 km long.