The Vidin-Calafat Bridge (also known as Danube bridge 2; , Most Vidin-Kalafat or Дунав мост 2, Dunav most 2; ) is a road and rail bridge between the cities of Calafat

Calafat

Calafat is a city in Dolj County, Romania, on the river Danube, opposite the Bulgarian city of Vidin, to which it is linked by ferryboat. The construction of the Calafat-Vidin Bridge is planned between the two cities....

, Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 and Vidin

Vidin

Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...

, Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

. It will be the second bridge on the shared section of the Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

 between Romania and Bulgaria. The bridge is to be built by the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas

Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas

Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas is a leading Spanish construction company based in Barcelona. It is publicly traded and is part of the IBEX 35.Over 50% of the shares are owned by a company controlled by Esther Koplowitz and others.-History:...

, and the cost is projected to be $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

160 million.

Construction officially began on 13 May 2007 in Vidin in the presence of Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergey Stanishev

Sergey Stanishev

Sergei Dmitrievich Stanishev is a Bulgarian politician who was Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2005 to 2009; currently he is Chairman of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and Interim President of the Party of European Socialists...

 and Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe

Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe

The Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe was an institution aimed at strengthening peace, democracy, human rights and economy in the countries of South Eastern Europe from 1999-2008. It was replaced by the Regional Co-operation Council in February 2008...

 Erhard Busek

Erhard Busek

Erhard Busek is a politician from the Christian-conservative People's Party . At present he is Coordinator of the South-Eastern Cooperative Initiative and Chairman of the Institute for Danube Region and Central Europe among other things.Busek was chief of the party and Vice-Chancellor of Austria...

. According to former Romanian Minister of Transport, Constructions and Tourism

Ministry of Transport, Constructions and Tourism of Romania

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Romania is one of the fifteen ministries of the Government of Romania.The current Minister is Anca Boagiu, from the Democratic Liberal Party....

 Radu Berceanu, construction had planned to be completed in 2010, with most of the construction will be done by Bulgarian subcontractors.

The bridge is part of Pan-European corridor IV. By 2017, the bridge will have access to Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

 - Craiova

Craiova

Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...

 - Timişoara

Timisoara

Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...

 - Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

 motorway, allowing rapid transit in Northwestern Bulgaria, Southwestern Romania and Eastern Hungary.

External links

• Official web site of Danube Bridge 2
• http://www.calafat-online.com/comment.php?comment.news.16
• Construction of ... Bridge ... at Vidin-Calafat, ISPA
  Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession
  Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession is one of the three financial instruments of the European Union to assist the candidate countries in the preparation for accession...
  
   report
• Bridge ... between Vidin (Bulgaria) and Calafat (Romania), EIA
  Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context
  The Convention on Environmental Impact Assessment in a Transboundary Context is a United Nations Economic Commission for Europe convention signed in Espoo, Finland, in 1991 that entered into force in 1997...
  
   case study