Road to Growth: North Macedonia’s New Expressway Boosts Trade and Connectivity

For years, the old road connecting the northern regions of North Macedonia to the country's capital and the border crossing with Bulgaria was a source of frustration. Potholes and cracked pavement caused flat tires and damage to vehicles, while landslides and rock falls often obstructed traffic and could even close off the route entirely. For truckers hauling goods and freight to and from Bulgaria-the country's key trading partner-this winding road was unpredictable, stressful, and potentially dangerous. With exports accounting for more than half of the country's GDP, the physical state of this essential trade corridor had become a drag on North Macedonia's economy.

A New Expressway Changes Lives

As part of a national effort to boost trade and connectivity, North Macedonia invested in constructing a new express road through the World Bank-supported Road Upgrading and Development Project. This EUR 113 million-effort-which included EUR 14 million from the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), an initiative of the European Union that supports the region's socio-economic development-helped build 22.8 kilometers of two-lane express road between Skopje and the Bulgarian border. The project also constructed bridges, high embankments, reinforced cut slopes with protection and planting, retaining walls, and drainage systems with culverts and surface ditches, and it installed safety features like guardrails, rumble strips at the approach of horizontal curves, warning signs, and centerline delineators.

Opened on January 04, 2025, this new route has made it easier for residents to access schools and hospitals, improved road safety, and slashed travel times. "The new road means that I can spend more time with my family. In the morning, I have more time with my children while they prepare for school," says Elena Boshkovska from Kriva Palanka, whose travel time to Kumanovo has been significantly reduced.

Moreover, the new expressway also opens doors to regional markets and new supply chains for small and medium-sized companies in the country's northeast. That will help boost the local job market, support local farmers and small businesses reach customers faster, and make the region more attractive for investment and tourists. "Since the new road between Rankovce and Kriva Palanka opened, getting to Bulgaria is so much faster-whether you're driving or moving goods. It's made a real difference for everyone here," emphasizes Vase Ivanov, a local truck driver.

Key to this project's success was ensuring that the road could withstand increasingly unpredictable natural hazards like storms, extreme heat, heavy rainfall and snow, as well as rock falls and landslides due to its complex geological and tectonic environment.

Since North Macedonia is prone to earthquakes and flash flooding, the expressway's design needed to incorporate stronger climate- and disaster-risk resilience measures-such as slope stabilization, erosion protection solutions and improved drainage. Funding from the WBIF was specifically used to improve and enhance slope stabilization by the installation of steel nets, anchors, and smoother inclinations of the cut slope, and nature-based solutions like planting

Improving road infrastructure in North Macedonia is essential for boosting the country's private sector growth: strengthening value chains, opening access to markets, cutting the costs of doing business, and attracting greater foreign direct investment. And by investing in its transit corridors, the country can overcome its landlocked geography, create jobs, and make greater progress to reducing poverty and inequality.

The new expressway between Skopje and the Bulgarian border is more than just an asphalt road-it's a path to greater economic opportunity and a better quality of life in North Macedonia.

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This project renovated a key portion of Corridor VIII, an east-west route connecting Albania's Adriatic port of Durrës to Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Varna via North Macedonia. This route forms part of the Western Balkans - Eastern Mediterranean European Corridor within the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), the EU's strategic plan to build a seamless, multimodal transport system connecting all major European centers. Corridor VIII is also a flagship project of the EU's Global Gateway, Europe's offer for connecting the world by encouraging public and private investments in a global network of transportation and supply chains, green energy, modern telecommunications, education, and research. In the transport sector, Global Gateway promotes infrastructure investments that create sustainable, smart, resilient, inclusive, and safe modes of transport and supports networks providing connectivity with TEN-T.

The Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) is a financial platform that coordinates investments for socio-economic development in the region and accelerates the path to EU accession. WBIF contributes to the Global Gateway strategy and is the main vehicle for implementing the EU's Reform and Growth Facility.