Bulgaria and Greece have now a new border pass at Makaza, a place located at about 20 kilometres north of Greece’s Aegean coastline. This served as a border point in the past, but it stopped being operational 68 years ago.
The Ruse-Makaza road links Romania and Greece through Central Bulgaria and it is part of the Pan-European Transport Corridor No. 9 leading from Helsinki, the Baltic States, Moscow, Kiev, and Bucharest to the Greek port of Alexandroupolis on the Aegean, as specified by novinite.com.
This new border point is expected to boost tourism between the two countries. An important thing to mention is that the road can only be used by vehicles weighting less than 3.5 metric tons, as Greece requested. Athens wants this road to be exclusively for cars and busses, while Bulgaria would like to have heavy long vehicles, up to 5 tons, also using this road. For the moment, as mentioned, only cars up to 3.5 tons can use it.
Bulgaria and Greece shared four border points until the reopening of Makaza Pass: Kulata-Promachonas, Ilinden-Exochi, Svilengrad-Ormenion, and Zlatograd-Thermes (Xanti). The Ruse-Makaza Pass road, once fully operational, will provide the shortest route from Bucharest, Romania’s capital, to the Aegean / Mediterranean. Other countries in Central and Eastern Europe will also benefit this new road in particular and the Pan-European Transport Corridor No. 9 in general when it comes to traveling by car in Europe to reach the Aegean / Mediterranean.