Bucharest prepares for back-to-school traffic chaos as officials target construction sites

Bucharest is preparing for heavy traffic when the school year begins, with city officials examining construction site by construction site in search of targeted fixes.

Mayor Ciprian Ciucu said he met with the Capital Police, local police, contractors and utility operators to assess the works affecting traffic. The discussions covered each site and road section separately, rather than applying one measure across the city.

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Today we met at City Hall with the Capital Police, all the contractors with open construction sites in Bucharest that affect traffic, and all the utility operators. We went site by site and section by section to see what specific solutions could ease the situation.

Potential responses include freeing up traffic lanes, increasing local or national police deployments and introducing traffic-light systems in areas with intense congestion. “We made decisions to be applied specifically to each construction site,” Ciucu said in remarks to B1 TV.

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It was normal to have construction sites. Bucharest needs infrastructure works. If we had not had these sites, the situation would have been even worse over time.

The mayor defended the roadworks despite the immediate inconvenience for drivers and residents. Bucharest needs infrastructure investment, he said, and failing to carry out the works would create greater problems over time. He pointed to the city’s new trams, arguing that they would deteriorate if they continued running on damaged concrete.

“Bucharest does not look like a European capital,” Ciucu said, describing the works as part of a broader transformation after a long period without serious infrastructure investment. He cited Drumul Taberei as an area that was eventually reorganized after years of construction. Residents should still expect a prolonged period of disruption, he warned. Some projects could cause problems for roughly a year, while larger infrastructure works may take longer.

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Bucharest does not look like a European capital. Bucharest needs works. It has not had serious works for a very, very long time, and Bucharest is changing.