Romanian transport and infrastructure minister says five new bridges to be built across Prut river

Saturday, April 26, 2025, will mark an important event for Moldova and Romania. It is about the launch of the works of construction of the road bridge at Ungheni across the Prut River, symbolically called Flower Bridge. The event will be celebrated in a special way, which will bring together people from both banks of the Prut River. "This is an important step," Sorin Grindeanu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Romania, said today.

"On Saturday, we will go to Ungheni. Here, the construction of the bridge complex across the Prut River will start. We are talking about two bridges, one for each direction. In fact, we are talking about starting the construction of the first bridge across the Prut since the Revolution. This is an important step, but equally  important is the fact that these bridges continue with the future A8 motorway which will connect Chisinau to Iasi and Pascani and which, further from Pascani, will cross the Carpathians to Targu. Mures. This bridge is the first; the one at Ungheni should be completed in 18 months, so somewhere in the second half of next year the two bridges should be completed. But I also want to announce one more thing: we still have four other bridges at the design stage. The design will be finished next year, and with them, we will have five new bridges across the Prut, which is a good thing," the Bucharest official wrote on a social network.

Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Bolea, Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Vladimir Bolea has earlier urged citizens to participate in the event and to become part of a historical moment, which will allow the flower bridge from 1990 to transform into a real, stone bridge.

"Together with the government of Romania, on April 26, we have the launch of the construction of the project of the last 60 years, the project of building the bridge across the Prut River. It is extremely symbolic. We have five other functional bridges, but this bridge has an extraordinary emotional charge for me, because it allows us all, as a whole nation, to relive the moment of seeing how from a flower bridge, from rose petals thrown into the waters of the Prut, begins the construction of a stone bridge with a name that will go down in history forever, Flower Bridge,’’ said Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Bolea.

The Ungheni bridge represents a strategic link between Romania and Moldova, being an integral part of the Union Highway (A8), with a major role in interconnecting the two national road networks – the Targu Mures – Iasi – Ungheni Motorway and the future Ungheni – Chisinau Motorway, both with a completion deadline estimated for the 2030 year.

The bridge across the Prut River at Ungheni will have four traffic lanes, two on each side, and pedestrian sidewalks. The total length will be of 261 meters and the width will reach 13 meters in the first stage, expected to increase to 24.25 meters in the second stage. The project includes the construction of a border crossing point, endowed with facilities for thorough control, parking for trucks and cars, as well as a connecting road of about 1 km.

According to authorities, road traffic could be temporarily opened on the bridge starting from the autumn of 2026, while the completion of the Union Highway is estimated for the period 2029-2030.

The investment is fully funded by European funds, through the Connecting Europe Facility, with the project's value exceeding 30 million euros.