New Bus Terminal In Dimitrovgrad

Dimitrovgrad is set to get a brand new bus terminal by the end of 2009, even though the final documentation for the project is yet to be signed. The contract has been postponed by three months due to technical ambiguity surrounding the vertical planning of the structure, weekly Stroitelstvo Gradut reported. With construction reaching advancing stages, it was revealed that this particular part of the project needed a rethink, a re-design and subsequent re-implementation.The bus terminal is on one of the busiest and key locations in the town and it would have greatly burdened the traffic in the area, Dimitrovgrad deputy mayor Krassimir Minev said, as quoted by Stroitelstvo Gradut.Construction on the project started last year in September, under the old mayor Dimitar Hadjiivanov. The bus terminal is located on Dimitar Blagoev Boulevard in close proximity to the train terminal, and its being built over the lands of a former car park and partially over green park lands. The project was designed by architect Stefan Stefanov, the building will boast two stories, encompassing over 300 sq m. The first floor, roughly 170 sq m will consist of the cash registers and luggage compartments. On the second floor there will be a capacity for eight offices which will accommodate the tour operator bus companies.The completion of the project will require 935 000 leva, of which about a half have been raised. The main investor in the project is the locally-based company Mega-Energoremont. According the initial blueprint of the project, the facility was supposed to be completed by the end of 2008 and all the auxiliary facilities and infrastructure surrounding the bus terminal were supposed be ready by the middle of 2008. However, as the first part of the project is virtually complete, the latter part of the project will be delayed greatly as certain aspects of the project must have underwent a complete re-design.Arkont OOD, Plovdiv based architect company was ordered by the municipality to re-design the vertical planning of the facility. It was concluded that it was ludicrous for both the entrance and exits for passenger buses to be located on the identical place. There should be two separate point of entry and exit in opposite directions leading to the eastern and western accesses of the boulevard. The surrounding area in front of the actual terminal also has to be enlarged and built with capacity to facilitate at least ten parking spots in addition to other already existing parking areas.Some of the construction means that a lane of the boulevard has to be excavated, then widened and covered up again. However a complication arises from the presence fibre-optic cables underneath that run alongside the length of the boulevard. This means that a joint operation has be executed so that the car park and the expansion of the boulevard are built whilst simultaneously the telecommunications shafts are covered with concrete coating for the protection of the cable.After the plans were studied, the problems have been rectified and the project has resumed. Mega-Energoremont has exposed the cable system and has strengthened it with concrete bunkers and immediately after the task is complete, the expansion of the boulevard and the parking lot will proceed, according to Minev, as quoted by Stroitelstvo Gradut.