site.btaLong Wait to Cross Turkey-Bulgaria Border

ESD 17:02:31 17-08-2019
DS1701ES.105
105 ECONOMY - TRAVEL - TRAFFIC - BULGARIA - TURKEY

Long Line of
Cars Waits to Cross
Bulgaria-Turkey Border


Istanbul, August 17 (BTA Special Correspondent Nahide Deniz) - A two-kilometre line of cars formed at the Kapikule/Kapitan Andreevo border control checkpoint towards Bulgaria on Saturday. According to the Kapikule customs administration, the heavy traffic at the checkpoint results from a mass return of Turkish nationals to European countries after the Muslim holiday of Kurban Bayrami.

The traffic at the other border control checkpoints between Turkey and Bulgaria - Hamzabeyli/Lessovo and Derekoy/Malko Turnovo - is normal and the crossing into Bulgaria is faster, the Turkish customs administration said on Saturday, advising drivers to pass through these checkpoints rather than Kapikule/Kapitan Andreevo.

Also on Saturday, the Bulgarian National Television reported heavy traffic on Strouma motorway towards Greece as a result of the high number of people travelling to this country on weekends. Kilometre-long traffic jams are expected to form later in the day on the secondary road connecting the southwestern towns of Doupnitsa and Boboshevo, where the traffic from Strouma motorway was rerouted after on August 13 a fire damaged a bridge on the motorway near Doupnitsa.

The Road Infrastructure Agency said that to reduce the traffic, no heavy-duty vehicles will be allowed on the section from the Daskalovo road junction to the Koulata border control checkpoint from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday, and between Blagoevgrad and Koulata from 2 pm to 8 pm on Sunday.

LN/DS