He's fed up and so are lots of people rallied behind him, because the problem is that bad. The Romanian road network is deficient and overburdened. Aside from commuters stuck in traffic, there's also lots of trucks. Most roads are undivided and overtaking is allowed. Safety culture among drivers is poor, deaths are high [1]. Sadly, road fatality rates in non-EU countries in the same region are even higher.<p>The EU is a critical source of funding for major infrastructure projects, especially for newer members who also have access to convergence funds. Road projects are expensive not only because of costs in design, land acquisition, and construction materials, but because they require large amounts of labor over several years. While it's often the same multinational consortia who bid on and win such construction projects, these firms aren't set up to do everything by themselves, and partner with local subcontractors for much of the work. The way work gets subcontracted makes this process vulnerable to corruption and graft. But sometimes it's the big consortia that get themselves into a problematic situation: just read up on Bechtel and Viaduct at Suplacu de Barcău.<p>EU transport and convergence funds might be a big help, but they do come with a few strings attached: they have to be used for projects that can be justified though a regional or EU-wide lens. On top of the slow pace of progress on the matter, Moldavia has an unfortunate geographic situation that puts it far away from the most important transit corridors -- the TEN-T corridors -- that EU desires to prioritize. In Romania's case, this means that connections towards Hungary and Bulgaria have so far made more progress than connections towards Ukraine and Moldova.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.euronews.com/2018/12/07/which-countries-in-europe-have-the-deadliest-roads" rel="nofollow">https://www.euronews.com/2018/12/07/which-countries-in-europ...</a>
This seems less like “shame” and more like “create a symbol of a public policy desire around which people can gather and signal to politicians in the hopes that the politicians will see construction as a action to get votes.”
According to Wikipedia Romania has:<p>22,247 km (13,824 mi) of railroad tracks<p>And 807 km of motorways<p>In contrast the UK (similarly sized, within 2% of area) has
16000 km of railway and<p>3688 km of highway<p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_road_network_size" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_road_ne...</a>
This was built to shame the politicians, not the nation (although we can extrapolate that a nation has the leaders it deserves - the ones it voted for).
Rode across Romania from Hungary to ride The Transfăgărășan Highway and if I never go back to Romania it'll be too soon. The roads were HIDEOUS. The Transfăgărășan was pretty awesome though.
I've considered doing something like this in my own city. Northern Virginia counties and cities routinely get listed as some of the richest in the country, often top 5 or top 10. Yet basic municipal services like roads and schools are in shambles. It's ludicrous to think that we can't fund <i>basic</i> infrastructure, in a town with property taxes on <i>personal vehicles</i>. We are a DC bedroom community, with some of the highest property values in the country, the likes of which rival or sometimes even top Silicon Valley. Yet somehow, even with a Democrat majority in our city and state legislatures, we can't fund shit.
In the US part of the reason for the Interstate system is for defense purposes. I believe that height of bridges somehow relates to what is needed for missiles to travel underneath.<p><a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/brainiacs/eisenhowerinterstate.cfm" rel="nofollow">https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/brainiacs/eisenhowerinte...</a><p><a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/50vertical.cfm" rel="nofollow">https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/50vertical.cfm</a>
Interesting stat in the article that Spain has orders of magnitude more motorways than UK or even Germany, while having a lower population. Any insight on why that is the case ?
My maternal grandfather was very happy to leave Romania, after his family had been there, as near as we can tell, about 600 years, pushed east over the years after coming up from the Mediterranean. In 1923<p>Here's a song he used to like to sing that sarcastically reminisces about it. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3ljx1roqto" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3ljx1roqto</a>
Building roads is a never ending battle. Notice how half the comments in here are people complaining about UK roads. I wish some countries would see this and just stop it. Invest in the railways.
Driving or riding in a car in Romania is often a harrowing experience. Many cars don't have seat belts or they are intentionally disabled, especially in the back. This includes taxis. Most people don't wear them. Drivers are often angry as it's generally a very uptight culture in general. The fatality rates reflect this. The culture needs changing. I want Romania to get more roads, but it will likely be at a preventable cost of many lives.
What's the state of art road building tech available now? I know that buildings can be made in a fortnight.<p>Does similar tech is available for building roads which hopefully last?
In Norway they have reduced the width of several roads to extend with one lane more, this way they get more mileage of highway.<p>The downside is that they have to reduce the speed, and this is on roads that never have problems with congestion. So there is no reason to extend the roads or reduce the speed..
“You get what you measure.”
something is telling me there is going to be a lot of alleged construction work being carried out in front of his businesses for the next months to come blocking the traffic to his businesses
I spend enough of my life pining for better public transit that it's hard to be sympathetic here. If you have such a "blank slate" and can noepay for better infrastructure, don't fuck it up like the US!
Based on what I have read recently on HN this surely means that Romania is a veritable paradise where automobiles are rarely seen or heard and people happily commute everywhere on foot, bicycle, and mass transit.
I can understand why Romanians would be upset, feeling that they are "behind." Their roadways may feel crowded and unsafe, but if the roadways were improved that would just encourage much more traffic and congestion. And all the other attendant problems, like pollution, public debt burdens, private debt burdens, accidents, sprawl, atomization, and an ugly (sub)urban monoculture.<p>On the other hand, with enough vision and willpower their lack of roadways could be an opportunity to create a development model that is not so dependent upon car infrastructure. They could devise tax policies, zoning, and regulations that promote walkable communities. They could build out light rail, or Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) for intra-urban travel. And high speed rail for longer distances.<p>Cars aren't all they are cracked up to be. Don't just copy everyone else. Learn from their mistakes.
From another perspective Romania is on the right track. They haven't over built roads that suit individuals, rather they are focusing on mass transit.<p>This is just a wasteful stunt. The only shame is on himself.