To ensure a smoother return for travelers heading to the capital at the end of the weekend, authorities have implemented a travel restriction for heavy goods vehicles over 12 tons. The ban applies from 12:00 PM to 8:00 PM on all motorways, as well as on road I-1 in the Blagoevgrad region. These measures are being enforced due to heavy traffic, which has been further complicated by a series of road accidents throughout the day.
One of the more severe congestion points occurred on the Hemus motorway, where 3 vehicles collided around the 21st kilometer near the municipality of Elin Pelin. Lachezar Bliznakov, head of the "Road Traffic Control and Law Enforcement" sector at the General Directorate of "National Police," explained that the chain reaction was triggered by a technical issue in the first vehicle. Traffic was temporarily funneled into the active lane only, resulting in a 10-kilometer-long queue. The situation did not normalize until around 5:00 PM, after the vehicles were removed.
At the same time, a multi-vehicle collision on the Trakia motorway at the 327th kilometer near Karnobat also caused disruptions. According to the Burgas police, 3 cars collided in succession, though fortunately, the damage was limited to property only. However, drivers in the area reported a traffic jam of about 5 kilometers heading toward Sofia. A similar blockade was reported at the 227th kilometer of the Trakia motorway, where the road has since been cleared, although the causes of the incident there remain unclear, according to Bliznakov.
Heavy traffic on the last day of the weekend was further hampered by several other incidents:
- At the exit of Burgas heading toward Sofia – a road accident just before 5:20 PM.
- Trakia and Hemus motorways – a warning from the Traffic Police regarding exceptionally heavy traffic flow throughout the day.