The Trakia motorway (, ) or Thrace motorway, designated A1, is a

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. It connects the capital city of

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

, the city of

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

and the city of

Burgas Burgas (, ), sometimes transliterated as Bourgas, is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, fourth-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, an ...

on the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

coast. The motorway is named after the historical region of

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

, the northern (Bulgarian) part of which it spans from west to east. The total length of Trakia motorway is and the final section opened on 15 July 2013 after 40 years of construction. Trakia motorway connects with the Sofia ring road at its eаst end, allowing fast access to Hemus motorway (A2) and

Struma motorway The Struma Motorway (, ) is a motorway currently under construction in Bulgaria. The motorway is located in the Yugozapaden area in South West Bulgaria, and follows the route Sofia-Pernik- Dupnitsa-Blagoevgrad-Sandanski to Kulata on the border ...

(A3) via Sofia Northern Bypass motorway (part of Europe motorway, A6). At its east end, nearby

, Trakia motorway will merge with the planned Cherno More motorway (A5) providing fast access from the south to the city of Varna and the beach resorts on the

. Maritsa motorway (A4) branches off at Orizovo Interchange at kilometer 169 to link Trakia motorway with

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

at the

Kapitan Andreevo Kapitan Andreevo ( ) is a village near the Bulgaria—Turkey—Greece tripoint in Svilengrad municipality, Haskovo Province, southern Bulgaria. As of 2005 it has 948 inhabitants and the mayor is Dimitar Shiderov. Due to the proximity with Turkey, ...

border crossing. The interchange is situated between

and Chirpan, roughly 5 km north of Parvomay.

History

The construction of the motorway began in 1973 and the first 10 km from Sofia to Novi Han entered in service in 1978. In 1984 the motorway reached

, the second largest city in Bulgaria. In 1995 a 32 km section between Plovdiv and Plodovitovo interchange was completed with

EBRD The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, shortened to EBRD ( French: ''Banque européenne pour la reconstruction et le développement'' or ''BERD''), is an international financial institution founded in 1991 in Paris. As a multilat ...

co-financing. In 2000 EIB loan was secured for the construction of two sections, between Orizovo interchange and

Stara Zagora Stara Zagora (, ) is a city in Bulgaria, and the administrative capital of Stara Zagora Province. It is located in the Upper Thracian Plain, near the cities of Kazanlak, Plovdiv, and Sliven. Its population is 121,582 making it the sixth largest c ...

(lot 1), and lot 5, between

Karnobat Karnobat ( ) is a town in the Burgas Province, Southeastern Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Karnobat Municipality. According to the 2021 census, the town had a population of 16,483. Geography Karnobat municipality i ...

and

, fourth largest city, situated at the Black sea coast. The motorway reached Stara Zagora in 2007, and lot 5 entered in service in 2006. Meanwhile, in 2005 a controversial concession contract was signed by the Bulgarian government and a Portuguese-led consortium. The concession was granted for 35 years without tender procedure and included 433 km from the Serbian border, at Kalotina border checkpoint, to Burgas. However, the contract was cancelled in 2008 and the sections between Stara Zagora and Karnobat (lots 2, 3 and 4) were approved for EU funds financing. In 2009 and 2010, tenders for the construction of Stara Zagora - Nova Zagora, Nova Zagora - Yambol-west interchange, and Yambol-west interchange - Karnobat sections, totalling 116.8 km, were conducted and contracts were signed. The sections between Stara Zagora and Yambol-east interchange opened to traffic in mid-2012, while the last remaining section between Yambol-east interchange and Karnobat interchange was completed on 15 July 2013. Trakia mw en

Exits

Gallery

File:Trakia highway near to Nova Zagora.jpg, Trakia motorway near Nova Zagora File:Trakiya highway 05.jpg, Trakia motorway near the village of Vakarel File:Magistrala-Trakia-pri-Vakarel.jpg, Trakia motorway at Vakarel- Panagyurishte junction File:Magistrala Trakia.jpg, Trakia motorway near

References

{{coord missing, Bulgaria Motorways in Bulgaria Transport infrastructure completed in 2013 Pan-European Corridor VIII