Hemus motorway

Hemus motorway
Автомагистрала „Хемус“
Hemus motorway highlighted in red and yellow
Route information
Length:	420 km (260 mi) 170 km (110 mi) built
Major junctions
From:	Sofia
To:	Varna (not constructed from Yablanitsa to Shumen)
Location
Major cities:	Botevgrad, Shumen (future: Pleven, Lovech, Veliko Tarnovo and Targovishte)
Highway system
Motorways in Bulgaria

The Hemus motorway (Bulgarian: Автомагистрала „Хемус“, Avtomagistrala "Hemus") or Haemus motorway, designated A2, is a partially built motorway in Bulgaria. Its planned length is 420 km, of which 170 km are in operation as of August 2015^[update]. The motorway in operation is divided into two sections — the first one links the capital Sofia with Yablanitsa, crossing Stara planina (Balkan mountains), and the second segment connects Varna and Shumen. According to the plans, Hemus motorway would connect Sofia with the third-largest city of Varna, at the Black Sea coast, duplicating European route E70 (Varna–Shumen), European route E772 (Shumen–Yablanitsa) and European route E83 (Yablanitsa–Sofia).

The Pravets–Yablanitsa section of the Hemus motorway was officially opened on 5 December 1999. Due to the mountainous terrain through the Stara Planina the section, 5.47 km in length with another 16 km reconstructed, features two viaducts 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. The 12.8 km section connecting Shumen with Kaspichan to the east was opened on 30 December 2005 and cost 77.6 million leva. In July 2013 a segment of the motorway at Shumen opened. In August 2013 a 8.46 km segment, connecting the Sofia ring road and the Yana junction, opened to traffic. In August 2015, a 4.9 km segment, including the Belokopitovo interchange (with I-2 road), was inaugurated.