Via Carpathia (also Via Carpatia) is a planned transnational highway network connecting Klaipėda in Lithuania with Thessaloniki in Greece. It is currently planned to open in 2025.[1]
The route was initially agreed upon in 2006 by Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. In 2010, this group was joined by Romania, Bulgaria and Greece who signed the so called Łańcut Declaration.[3][4]
On 22 June 2017, Poland and Ukraine signed a cooperation agreement for the construction of the road. Signatories indicated the road could be part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).[5][6]
Construction commenced in individual sections along the road with the entire road expected to open in 2025.[1]
The sections known to be under construction or completed are:
Parts of the M30 motorway in Hungary. The Hungarian section opened to public in October 2021 by completing the missing link between Miskolc and the Slovak border.[7]
The road will run in a general north-south direction through central Europe from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean. Its northern terminus is the Lithuanian port city of Klaipėda. It will then cross the country eastward, pass through eastern Poland, eastern Slovakia and the Hungarian and Romanian border. It will continue in western Romania and western Bulgaria before entering Greece. Its southern terminus is the Greek port city of Thessaloniki.[1] A fork in the south may continue eastwards through Romania to the Black Sea port town of Constanța.[9][10]
