Improving the connection of tertiary nodes Mangalia and Balchik to TEN-T infrastructure

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This project comes to greet an issue widely spread in the border area, namely the poor connectivity of the inhabitants to TEN-T network, even if their city is situated on or near the TEN-T (core or comprehensive). As described by the European Commission, the purpose of the TEN-T is to promote transport chains for passenger and freight, while the roads comprising the actual TEN-T network are mainly highways or European roads. At the same time, the result indicator of the Programme refers to the population of the cross-border area served by modernized infrastructure leading to TEN-T. Therefore, the connectivity to TEN-T is, in fact, defined by how the inhabitants can access, from their cities, the highways and European roads, components of the TEN-T. As a result, the existing road infrastructure is the one that establishes if the inhabitants have an adequate connectivity to TEN-T, and not necessarily the geographical location of the cities in relation to the indicative TEN-T map. This applies for Mangalia and Balchik, 2 cities on the Black Sea coast, where the connectivity to the passing-by TEN-T is impaired by the poor road infrastructure that serves the inhabitants. And not only the inhabitants are affected, but also the touristic attractiveness of the cities (given that Mangalia and Balchik have great touristic potential) and the economic development, highly dependent on the connection between waterways and road infrastructure, both cities being multimodal nodes. In conclusion, the common challenge represented by the weak road infrastructure has a negative impact on both partners on 2 major directions: the access of its inhabitants to TEN-T and towards the border point Vama Veche – Durankulak and the accomplishment of the full economic potential of the area, taking into account the strong touristic potential and the fact that both municipalities are multimodal nodes with strong naval activity. At the same time, the cities do not benefit from appropriate route guidance related to the large number of tourists that visit Mangalia and Balchik. Another challenge is that the public transport is not correlated in a cross-border manner and only has a local perspective. The overall objective of the project will be to improve access for the inhabitants of the 2 partners and for all those who are transiting the cities to TEN-T and to create the premises of further economic development of the region, by proper connection of the multimodal points. The change that the project will make is to improve cross-border traffic conditions (private and public) in the area, by joint focus on a cross-border perspective. In Mangalia, the modernization of the roads will help drain the traffic in and out of town, with a focus on passenger cars and tourist attractions. A total of 17 roads will be modernized, many of them with a direct connection to TEN-T, represented by E87, including the main artery of the city. By applying the 2 km radius, it is estimated that 90% of the inhabitants will benefit from the improved infrastructure, resulting thus in a major impact on the life of the city. It will lead to less traffic jams, less pollution, improved safety for all traffic participants and better access to touristic objectives. In Balchik, the project will create a better connection for the city towards the E87, part of TEN-T, in 2 ways: through the main road of the city, Cherno More, which leads most of the inner-city traffic directly to E87, and through 2 other roads acting as beltway, directly connected to E87 towards the Romanian border. These last 2 roads are also connecting the tourist attractions from the Black Sea, allowing the tourists to avoid the city in order to arrive on the coast. It will lead to less traffic jams, less crowded inner-city traffic, less pollution and the premises for the economic development of the businesses in the area (e.g. tourist resorts). The project contributes to the output indicators I1 - Total length of reconstructed or upgraded roads with more than 20 km of modernized roads (7.8 km in Mangalia and 9 km in Balchik) and I2 - Number of joint mechanisms to facilitate the connection of secondary/tertiary nodes to TEN-T infrastructure with 4 joint mechanisms (route guidance, feasibility study addressing cross-border transport, traffic safety measures and awareness raising activities). As mentioned before, the road infrastructure improved by the project represents direct connection of the cities to the TEN-T network. The approach adopted by the project is highly orientated on the cross-border perspective. This is due to the fact that Balchik & Mangalia share common characteristics regarding the economic and social development. Both cities are important touristic attractions on the Black Sea coast and their economic and social development is strongly influenced by tourism. Moreover, Mangalia is the closest Ro city to the Bg border on the Black Sea coast, the border traffic thus having a major impact on the city. On the other side, Balchik is an important destination for Romanian tourist, being the location of the castle of Queen Maria of Romania. Thus, the improvement of the road infrastructure on each side of the border will be of benefit for both Romanians and Bulgarians. In this cross-border perspective, the project plans to develop a new joint mechanism in the area, on cross-border public transport, in order to improve the connection between the 2 cities. The same purpose will be shared by the route guidance system that will also be developed within the project. Another plus factor for adopting the cross-border approach is that, due to their geographical location, both cities have a highly developed naval activity. Mangalia is a very important port on the Black Sea, with one of the biggest dockyards of Romania and of the Black Sea. In this context, any development strategy of the cities has to take into consideration the Black Sea and its cross-border effect and opportunity. The proposed roads improve the connectivity of the 2 cities through direct and indirect connection to TEN-T and, at the same time, the roads are oriented towards the border area: from Mangalia going towards E87(TEN-T) to Bulgaria border at Vama Veche-Durankulak and from Balchik going North towards E87 (TEN-T) to Romania border, the same customs point. The geographic position that places the 2 municipalities on one hand on Black Sea Coast, attracting a great part of the seaside tourists and on the other hand near the custom point on the way of goods transport coming from Asia, and also along the waterways of Black Sea and harbours, require the realization of this partnership. Once the 2 cities are connected, it can be seen that a broader geographical area is linked to the TEN-T, allowing direct connection to a multimodal functional network, this being possible only within a strategic cross-border partnership. Indicative budget: 7.8 million Euro.

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