Transfăgărăşan is one of the most beautiful roads in the world
Transfăgărășan is a road in Romania that runs from Bascov commune in Argeș county near Pitești in the direction of Curtea de Argeș and ends near Cârțișoara commune at the intersection with the DN1 road between Sibiu and Brașov. It is 151 kilometers long and crosses the Făgăraș Mountains on a north-south axis. The segment from Vidraru dam to Cârțișoara was built between 1970 and 1974 and spans 91 kilometers of rugged terrain at high heights.
There was a dirt road and a railway line that connected the commune of Căpățâneni with the ancient village of Cumpăna (now buried by water), near which the modern Cumpăna chalet was built, until the dam and the Vidraru reservoir were erected in 1965, along which the DN7C travels for about 20 km.
The route climbs serpentines and viaducts near the Poenari citadel, going through three shorter tunnels, until it reaches the Vidraru Dam, which joins the Pleașa and Vidraru Mountains with its 307 m. After passing over the dam, the road continues on the left side of Lake Vidraru until it reaches the lake’s end. The road then begins to climb, following the course of the Capra river valley until it reaches the alpine hollow near Cabana Capra; after a series of serpentines, passing by the Capra Waterfall, it arrives at the southern entrance of the Capra-Bâlea tunnel, which runs beneath the ridge of the Făgăraș Mountains, between the peaks of Iezerul Caprei (2414 m) and Paltinul (2414 m) (2398 m). With a length of 887 meters, a height of 4.4 meters, a width of 6 meters, and a walkway with a width of 1 meter, this tunnel is Romania’s longest road tunnel,being electrically lit and naturally ventilated.
The Transfăgărășan travels through the natural reserve Alpine Gulf of the Făgăraş Mountains between Podragu — Suru and Valea Bâlii, near to the glacial lake Bâlea, followed by a 13-kilometer steep descent through serpentines, across the glacial caldera. The route next passes alongside the Bâlea Cascade, a 68-meter-long waterfall in steps, Romania’s largest of its sort, located at a height of around 1230 meters above sea level, before arriving at the Bâlea Waterfall Chalet. There are 21 kilometers between there and the crossing with DN1 (European route E68), near Cârțișoara commune.
Transfăgărășan spans 830 bridges and 27 viaducts, requiring the dislocation of several million tons of rock; 6520 tons of dynamite, of which 20 tons were used just in the Capra-Bâlea tunnel, as well as numerous other building materials, were used in its construction.
Road history.
Nicolae Ceaușescu spearheaded the construction of the Transfăgărășan between 1970 and 1974. Despite the fact that Romania already had several Southern Carpathians crossings inherited prior to the communist period (Novaci-Săliște Alpine Road or the old Câmpina-Predeal Road) or built in the early years of the regime (Bumbești Jiu-Petroșani road), the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and the ease with which the existing crossings between Transylvania and Muntenia could be blocked or attacked (which, with one exception, “The opening of forest basins in the Făgăraş massif, the more rational use of alpine pastures, and the establishment of a mountain tourism center in the region of Lake Bâlea,” according to the project’s substantiation notes.
