Romania opens A3 motorway section Zimbor–Poarta Sălajului to traffic

The engineering-heavy section (viaducts totalling more than 3 km in length and up to 50 m high) has been structurally complete since late July 2026. Update (10 August 2026): acting transport minister Radu Miruță named 10 August 2026 as the date for the formal handover together with the simultaneous opening to traffic, and the acceptance commission of road authority CNAIR started work that day. Traffic will only be released once the Zimbor and Românași interchanges serving the section have also been accepted — no confirmation that the road actually opened was available at the time of writing. It would be Romania's first motorway opening of 2026. The construction consortium comprises SA&PE Construct, Spedition UMB and Tehnostrade. Around the handover date Romanian media cited an investment value of RON 905m excluding VAT (the field still carries the previously sourced RON 836m net). Sources: Economica.net and business24.ro, 28 July 2026; Digi24. Update (11 August 2026): CNAIR named 11 August 2026 as the firm date, pushing the opening back by a day: a press conference was scheduled for 15:00 at the Românași interchange and the opening to traffic of the 12.24 km between the Zimbor and Românași interchanges for 16:00. These are the first new motorway kilometres Romania has put into service in 2026; the section is financed under the Transport Programme (Programul Transport) 2021–2027. No confirmation that the opening actually took place after 16:00 was available at the time of writing (sources: Economedia.ro, Jurnalul, CNAIR). Update (11 August 2026, confirmed): the road is open — state news agency Agerpres reported that the 12.24 km Zimbor–Poarta Sălajului section has been in use since Tuesday. CNAIR director-general Cristian Pistol said the opening means roughly 144 continuous kilometres of the A3 Transilvania motorway are now driveable, and that Romania's high-speed road network grew from 1,418 to 1,430 km. The section had to wait for the separately contracted Românași interchange (awarded in 2024), without which the road was unusable; the motorway contract itself dates from 2020. Pistol said Romania expects to open at least 200 km of high-speed roads during 2026. Agerpres names Romanian contractor UMB Spedition as the builder. Since 12 August 2026 this entry's link points to the Agerpres confirmation report.