The Hemus motorway or Haemus motorway , designated A2, is a motorway currently under construction in 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...

. Its planned length is 433 km, of which 129 km are in operation , divided into two sections — Sofia

Sofia

Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...

-Yablanitsa

Yablanitsa

Yablanitsa is a small town in the westernmost part of Lovech Province, central-north Bulgaria, located in the area of the Pre-Balkan, north of the Stara Planina mountain. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Yablanitsa Municipality. The town is situated 70 kilometres from the capital...

 and Varna

Varna

Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...

-Shumen

Shumen

Shumen is the tenth-largest city in Bulgaria and capital of Shumen Province. In the period 1950–1965 it was called Kolarovgrad, after the name of the communist leader Vasil Kolarov...

. According to the plans, Hemus motorway would connect the capital city of Sofia to Varna on the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

, duplicating European route E70

European route E70

European route E 70 is an A-Class West-East European route, extending from A Coruña in Spain in the west to the Georgian city of Poti in the east.-Itinerary:...

 (Varna-Shumen), European route E772

European route E772

European route E772 is a class B road, part of the International E-road network in Bulgaria. It connects the two sections of the Hemus motorway constructed so far, and is part of one of the most important transport corridors in the country: from the capital Sofia in the west to Varna and the...

 (Shumen-Yablanitsa) and European route E83

European route E83

European route E 83 is a road part of the International E-road network. It begins in Polsko Kosovo, Bulgaria and ends in Botevgrad, Bulgaria.The road follows: Polsko Kosovo - Pleven - Yablanitsa - Botevgrad....

 (Yablanitsa-Sofia).

The Pravets

Pravets

Pravets is a town in central western Bulgaria, located approximately 60 km from the capital Sofia.Pravets has a population of 4,512 people. Mountains surround it, which allows for a mild climate with rare winds. In the outskirts there is a small lake used for fishing and recreation...

-Yablanitsa section of the Hemus motorway was officially opened on 5 December 1999. Due to the mountainous terrain through the Balkan Mountains

Balkan Mountains

The Balkan mountain range is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea...

 the section, 5.47 km in length with another 16 km reconstructed, features two viaduct

Viaduct

A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...

s and one tunnel (Praveshki hanove), while the whole Sofia-Yablanitsa section has three more tunnels. The construction of the Pravets-Yablanitsa section began in the 1984 but ceased in the late 1980s due to lack of funds to be finished in 1998-1999.^{http://bvplus.declera.com/archive/old/archive49_99.htm}

The 12.8 km section connecting Shumen with Kaspichan

Kaspichan

Kaspichan is a town in central northeastern Bulgaria, part of Shumen Province. It is located in the eastern Danubian Plain, some 70 km from the major Black Sea port Varna and around 120 km from the key Danube ports of Rousse and Silistra...

 to the east was opened on 30 December 2005 and cost 77.6 million leva

Bulgarian lev

The lev is the currency of Bulgaria. It is divided in 100 stotinki . In archaic Bulgarian the word "lev" meant "lion".It is speculated that Bulgaria, as a member of the European Union will adopt the Euro in 2015 .- First lev, 1881–1952 :...

.^{http://big.bg/modules/news03/article.php?storyid=11244}

The motorway is named after the Haemus Mons

Haemus Mons

In earlier times the Balkan mountains were known as the Haemus Mons. It is believed that the name is derived from a Thracian word *saimon, 'mountain ridge', which is unattested but conjectured as the original Thracian form of Greek Haimos....

, an ancient name of the Balkan Mountains

Balkan Mountains

The Balkan mountain range is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula. The Balkan range runs 560 km from the Vrashka Chuka Peak on the border between Bulgaria and eastern Serbia eastward through central Bulgaria to Cape Emine on the Black Sea...

 (Stara Planina).

Bebresh Viaduct

Bebresh Viaduct

Bebresh Viaduct is a girder bridge part of the Bulgarian Hemus motorway, located in Vitinya Pass in Stara Planina 60 km east of Sofia, at 1,050 m above sea level. It was opened in 1985 and was designed by the team of D. Dragoev, P. Minchev and Y. Todorov of Moststroy AD.The viaduct is 720 m...

, regarded as the highest bridge in the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

with a clearance of 120 m, is part of the Hemus motorway.