A third of asphalt missing from euro-funded Bulgarian highway

Bulgarian Regional Development Minister Ivan Shishkov said a third of the asphalt surface on a highway around the capital had simply disappeared. Shishkov inspected the road twice with Ventsislav Angelov, head of the state road construction agency.

On the first inspection, Shishkov said that a third of the asphalt, which should have been 20 centimeters thick, had not been laid. "What you see now is 14 centimeters, part of the road is missing," Shishkov told the media. Angelov, seinerseits, said additional drilling would be done on the section to find out the current state of the road's foundation.

A sample of asphalt pavement was taken from one of the bridges and then the strength of the steel structure was tested.