The A1 motorway () is a partially built motorway in Romania, planned to connect Bucharest with the Banat and Crișana regions in the western part of the country and the rest of Europe. When completed it will be 581 kilometres long, spanning the country from south-east to west. The motorway starts in the western part of Bucharest and connects the following cities: Pitești, Sibiu, Deva, Timișoara, Arad, connecting with Hungary's M43 motorway near Nădlac. As the motorway is built along the Trans-European Transport Networks Rhine-Danube Corridor its construction receives 85% funding from the European Union. The road is part of the proposed Via Carpatia route.
As of June 2025, the combined length of the opened sections totals 487 kilometres, with all the remaining sections under construction. The parts of the motorway currently in service include Bucharest – Curtea de Arges (140 km), Boița – Holdea (188 km) and Margina – Nădlac (158.8 km).
An additional segment, between Coșevița – Margina (13.5 km), which has several tunnels (2.1 km, in total) along its route is currently under construction
On the Pitești – Sibiu section, two segments were tendered as well: Pitești − Curtea de Argeș (30.4 km, lot 5) and Curtea de Argeș − Tigveni (10.7 km, lot 4), with the latter one awarded for construction in April 2019, and the first segment (Pitești − Curtea de Argeș) in May 2020.
In December 2024, the 16-km segment from Pitești to Curtea de Argeș (lot 5) was opened 8 months ahead of schedule.
Sections
Bucharest – Pitești This section of the motorway is fully operational and is composed of two segments: Bucharest – Pitești and Pitești bypass.
The Bucharest – Pitești segment (95.9 km) is the first motorway-class road built in Romania and remained the only one for more than 15 years, until the completion of the Fetești – Cernavodă segment on the A2 motorway in 1987. Construction works began on 4 February 1967 and the motorway's initial carriageway was opened on 12 April 1972, before eventually entering into full service to all traffic on 11 September 1972, except for oversize loads that were restricted to the old DN7 road. Various parts of the segment underwent several major rehabilitations: between 1997 and 2000 by the FAT joint venture composed of Italian companies Federici, Astaldi and Todini, between 2002 and 2004 by the Romanian companies Albix Timișoara and Cosar București and between 2006 and 2010 by Romanian companies PA&CO Internațional and Euroconstruct Trading '98. As of August 2023 this is the only segment of the motorway where motels and restaurants operate in rest areas.
The Pitești bypass segment (13.6 km) was awarded in April 2004 to a joint venture composed of Italian companies Astaldi and Italstrade. The segment was opened to traffic during November 2007, having a major role in diverting traffic from the Pitești city centre. An underpass in the Bascov area (north of Pitești) was also built to resolve traffic congestion at the nearby junction of the DN7 and DN7C roads which was generating in turn problems at the Pitești motorway end. The underpass was fully completed during October 2008.
Pitești – Sibiu This section of the motorway is partially under construction and is split into five segments: Pitești – Curtea de Argeș (lot 5), Curtea de Argeș – Văleni (lot 4), Văleni – Racovița (lot 3), Racovița – Boița (lot 2), Boița – Sibiu (lot 1).
This is the most difficult section of the whole motorway from construction works perspective, considering that it has to cross the Carpathian Mountains, partly along the Olt River Valley. The feasibility study was initially completed during late 2008 with plans to start construction works next year, however the Romanian Government has continuously delayed the start of the activity until 2012, considering several options on how the motorway construction was to be funded, while advancing several deadlines for the start/completion of works on the section. As during early 2012 the section was accepted to be funded under European Union's Cohesion Fund, the 2008 feasibility study had to be updated with several key elements required by the European Union that were previously not considered. The tender for the update was launched in April 2012 aiming to have the section finalized by 2020, as total construction costs for its 116.6 kilometers were estimated at 3.25 billion euro. Eight months later the Romanian Government reconsidered and cancelled the tender.
The year 2013 brought much controversy, as the Romanian Government declared that the priority motorway route for crossing the Carpathian Mountains will be the A3 motorway (between Comarnic and Brașov) instead of the A1 motorway (between Pitești and Sibiu) and further supported the idea of modifying the route of the Pan-European Corridor IV to pass through Brașov. According to the same plans the A3 motorway was to be connected to the A1 motorway via another motorway between Sibiu and Făgăraș, thus creating a nearly complete motorway corridor between Bucharest and Sibiu, via Brașov, while the section between Pitești and Sibiu was no longer an immediate priority. This was generally regarded as a strategy to avoid a competing alternative route to the section of the A3 motorway between Comarnic and Brașov, which was planned to be built via a concession contract. During the 2013 Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) reunion the European Union rejected the plan and officially criticized the attempt to switch priorities from constructing the Pitești – Sibiu motorway, determining the Romanian authorities to reconsider the change.
After further trying unsuccessfully in December 2013 to persuade the European Union to change the route of the motorway to pass through Râmnicu Vâlcea, the Romanian Government has retendered in June 2014 the update of the 2008 feasibility study for the section, and has signed the contract for this activity with a joint venture composed of the Italian company Spea Ingegneria Europea and the Romanian company Technic Consulting Engineering in June 2015, after an appeal from one of the bid participants. As the Ministry of Transport has started work on the Romanian General Master Plan for Transport required to access 2014–2020 European funds, it generated further controversy by appearing to continue to try avoiding the construction of the section as a motorway, as it downgraded it to express road in an October 2014 version of the Master Plan and later considered a phased express road/motorway approach in a subsequent version of the Master Plan. This has prompted reactions from the European Union, the public society and the employees of the Dacia plant near Pitești, and while the Romanian Prime Minister announced during October 2014 that the section will be included as a motorway in the final version of the Master Plan the change was reflected in the document only in July 2015.
In an interview given by the general manager of CNADNR during August 2015 it was announced that possible routes for lots 1 and 5 were already discussed with the joint venture updating the feasibility study and based on that the company will hold public consultations during October 2015, where all interested parties will be invited to comment on the proposed solutions and also to contribute with knowledge regarding the potential problems CNADNR might face on the selected routes. Dependent on the issues that might be identified and their environmental impact, the bid for the construction works on these two lots might be launched as early as January 2016. CNADNR has published on 7 November 2015 five alternative routes for the Pitești – Sibiu section. As previously announced all interested parties are welcome to provide their opinion by 11 December 2015 on the company's Facebook page. Following these consultations, it is expected that on 15 December 2015 the company preparing the feasibility study will hand over to CNADNR the final study for lots 1 and 5.
According to the approved version of the Master Plan, the section was expected to be completed until 2020 using a mix between European funds, Romanian budget and low interest loans.
The works for lots 1 and 5 were tendered in July 2017 and for lot 4 in March 2019. As of April 2019, the lot 1 was awarded for construction to the Austrian company Porr, for nearly 128.7 million euro, with 12 months allowed for planning and 36 months for execution. The other two lots were still pending to be awarded.
Announcements of intention for a tender were published for two of the rest of the three lots, as well, in April 2018.
As of July 2019, the lot 1 of this section (Boița – Sibiu, 13.1 km) is undergoing construction.
On 11 May 2020, the contract for the construction of the lot 5 (Pitești – Curtea de Argeș, 30.4 km) was signed with the Italian company Astaldi. The value of the contract is 356 million euro and it is scheduled to take 12 months for planning and 48 months for execution. The lot 4 (Curtea de Argeș – Tigveni, 9.86 km) followed on 15 November 2021; the contract for its construction was signed with the Austrian company Porr. On 7 February 2022, the contract for the construction of the lot 2 (Boița – Cornetu, 31.3 km) was signed with the Turkish joint-venture Mapa-Cengiz. On 1 August 2022, the contract for the construction of the lot 3 (Cornetu–Tigveni, 37.3 km) was signed with Webuild. It is the most expensive roadbuilding contract ever signed in Romania. On 15 December 2022, lot 1 (Sibiu - Boița, 13.1 km) was opened to the public. Lot 5 was also opened, but in stages, with the first stage, between Pitești and Capu Piscului opening in December 2024, with the second stage opening on June 11 2025.
Sibiu bypass This section of the motorway is fully operational.
The contract for the whole section (17.5 km) forming a partial beltway around Sibiu was initially signed during 2003 with Italian company Todini, with the actual construction work starting during 2004 and scheduled to finish during 2007. This plan suffered multiple delays and eventually in September 2006 CNADNR decided to terminate the contract. Following this, the section was split into two segments. The first segment (km 0-14) was awarded in May 2008 to a joint venture composed of Geiger, Max Bögl and Comtram. The second segment (km 14-17) was awarded in September 2009 to the Romanian company Vectra Service and included also the upgrade of 3.3 kilometers of road connecting the motorway with DN1 that was designated DN1T. Works started on the first segment during July 2008 and on the second during February 2010 and were scheduled to be fully completed during 2011, but as a result of the authorities insisting on the bypass being finished sooner the section was opened for traffic in December 2010.
Sibiu – Orăștie This section of the motorway is fully open and is split into four segments: Sibiu – Săliște (lot 4), Săliște – Cunța (lot 3), Cunța – Sebeș (lot 2) and Sebeș – Orăștie (lot 1).