The Ungheni-Chisinau-Odessa highway project is a large-scale one, and Moldova will not be able to implement it without financial support from external partners, acting Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Vladimir Bolia said.
Earlier, he noted the complexity of the highway construction process, which includes several preliminary stages – from feasibility study and selection of the optimal route to land acquisition and design. At present, there are financial resources from the European Union for the construction of the first section of the highway in Moldova, including the bridge, up to the traffic circle. Next, there is a stage of pre-feasibility study for the continuation of the highway. Out of three possible routes proposed by experts, the specialists of the Ministry will determine which one is the most convenient and easy for construction. Then in the course of designing it will be necessary to determine the land plots to be bought out. According to the acting minister, all this will take several years. He specified that the Iasi-Ungheni-Chisinau-Odessa highway will be a continuation of the A8 highway in Romania.
The A8 highway Târgu-Mureşi-Iaşi-Ungheni, also called the Unirii highway, will stretch for 305 km. According to Romanian sources, about 44% of the total length is currently under implementation.
According to Irinel Scriosteanu, the state secretary of the Romanian Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, during a public debate in September, the A8 highway is a project of strategic interest for Romania. Its construction will be carried out in phases. This route was chosen to connect Chisinau, Ungheni and Iasi as directly as possible with Transylvania in Transcarpathia, and to focus on the center of Europe. The crossing of the Carpathians is 200 km long, while the section from Târgu Neamts to Ungheni, passing through Iasi, is 95 km long.
Irinel Scriosteanu admitted that Romania is going through a difficult period economically, but the project will not suffer from this, he assured. “We are still negotiating with the European Commission to complete the works from Târgu Neamț to the bridge in Ungheni by 2030. This deadline is also set by the financier. We still have a mountainous zone for which we are still looking for funding sources.”
Part of the A8 highway will be a bridge over the Prut River (1.1 km), also called “Bridge of Flowers”, which is currently under construction.
The highway bridge will be located slightly north of the town of Ungheni, near the Moldovan village of Zagarancea and the Romanian village of Golaesti. It will be a complex structure of two side-by-side parallel bridges, each 261.2 meters long. Both will have four lanes (two in each direction), plus sidewalks for pedestrians.
Construction of the bridge began on April 26, 2025 and is scheduled to be completed in 18 months. Romanian company Ness Proiect Europe has been selected as the developer. The opening date is scheduled for 2026. The construction cost is 151.68 million Romanian lei, excluding VAT (more than 30 million euros). The Romanian authorities are building the new bridge across the Prut with the financial support of the European Union. The main part of the project financing is allocated from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funds.
The construction site, where works are being carried out on both banks of the Prut, was inspected in October this year by representatives of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development of the Republic of Moldova. They stated that the works are proceeding according to schedule. The construction of the bridge structure is being finalized, piles are being drilled and pile foundations are being reinforced.
The state secretary of the Romanian Transport and Infrastructure Ministry also confirmed in social networks that the work schedule is being observed. According to him, next year it will be possible to cross the Prut on the new bridge. At the first stage, traffic will be carried out on nearby national roads, while the construction of the highway to Ungheni will be completed later, after funding from the European SAFE program is obtained.
The launch of the A8 highway, which will be merged with the A3 highway leading to the Hungarian border at Târgu Mures in Romania, will significantly reduce travel time, bringing tangible benefits to the economy, according to Radu Shitov, director of the Euroimobil agency. It will be possible to reach the western part of Romania and the border with Hungary from Moldova in five hours, whereas today this way takes twice as long. This will significantly simplify the logistics of supplying goods to Moldova from European countries, including construction materials, which we mostly import. It will reduce transportation costs, will give impetus to the development of industries, construction of warehouses and commercial enterprises along this highway. Good infrastructure will attract certain investments, and large chains, which were not interested in opening their representative offices in this region when the infrastructure was underdeveloped, may come to this region.
