Highways in Romania

Controlled-access highways in Romania are dual carriageways, grade separated with controlled-access, designed for high speeds. There are two types of highways, motorways (Romanian: Autostrăzi, sing. Autostradă) and expressways (Romanian: Drumuri expres, sing. Drum expres), with the main difference being that motorways have emergency lanes and slightly wider lanes. The maximum allowed speed limit for motorways is 130 km/h (81 mph), while for expressways the limit is 120 km/h (75 mph). There are no toll roads, but a road vignette(rovinietă) is required.

The first construction works began in 1967, and the first highway segment was opened in 1972. However, extension of the high-speed road network lagged behind until after EU accession in 2007, when improved utilization of the allocated EU funds enabled Romania to speed up the expansion of its highway network.

Only A2, A10 and DEx12 are completed, while A1 is mostly completed with all its remaining sections currently being built. A3 has five segments that are currently in use, with most of the remaining ones being in various stages of construction or tendering. A4, A6, A11 and DEx4 currently have only small segments in use. DEx12 was the first expressway to be opened in 2022. Construction contracts for part of A0, A7, A8, A9, A13, DEx6, DEx11 and DEx14 are in various stages of execution or tendering.

As of 29 January 2026, there are 1,418 km of highways in service (of which 1,279 km motorways and 139 km expressways), with another 884 km with signed contracts in various stages of execution, and another 486 km being tendered.

In 2012, legislation amendments defined two types of highways: motorways (Romanian: Autostrăzi) and expressways (Romanian: Drumuri expres). Motorways are identified by A followed by a number while expressways are identified by DEx followed by a number.

There are almost no tolls for using roads in Romania, with exception of large bridges. There is one at the Giurgeni – Vadu Oii Bridge over the river Danube on highway DN2A/E60 at Vadu Oii and one at the Cernavodă Bridge, on the A2 motorway/E81. There is another bridge, the Brăila Bridge that crosses the Danube, on the highway DN2S/E87 into Tulcea County that is toll free from 2023 until 2028. Nevertheless, every owner of a car that uses a motorway (A), an expressway (DEx) or a national road (DN) in Romania must purchase a vignette (rovinietă) from any of the main petrol stations or at any post office throughout the country.

The main differences are that motorways have wide emergency lanes (3 m) and slightly wider traffic lanes (by 3.75 versus 3.5 m). Expressways only have a narrow 1.5 m gravel roadside on the right side, added to the 0.5 m asphalted road edges, and may not have acceleration and deceleration lanes in mountainous areas. The maximum allowed speed limit is 130 km/h (81 mph) (80 km/h (50 mph) during poor conditions), while expressways have a maximum speed limit of 120 km/h (75 mph). Generally, feasibility studies for motorways have a minimum projected speed of 100 km/h, while for expressways, it is reduced to 80 km/h.

The construction of the first motorway in Romania began in 1967, and the first segment of the A1 motorway, from Pitești to the capital Bucharest was opened in 1972 with a total length of 96 km. During the building of this motorway, a general plan was released in 1969, detailing the building of motorways in the incoming years, however, due to low volumes of traffic, the communist regime focused on improving current roads instead. Until the collapse of the communist regime in 1989, the building of a second motorway between Bucharest and Constanța had been planned, but only an 18 km long segment of A2 from Fetești to Cernavodă opened in 1987.