Romania’s famous mountain road Transfăgărășan closes amid snow and fog

Road traffic has been temporarily suspended on part of the Transfăgărășan, one of Romania’s most famous mountain roads, due to snow, fog, and low temperatures, the road infrastructure company CNAIR announced. The closure took effect on Tuesday, October 27.

The restriction applies to the DN7C section between Piscul Negru in Argeș County and Bâlea Cascadă in Sibiu County, from kilometer 108 to kilometer 130.8.

CNAIR said weather conditions can change rapidly at high altitudes, with unpredictable phenomena posing risks to people traveling through mountain areas at this time of year.

“The temporarily closed section will either be reopened or remain closed for the entire winter, depending on how weather conditions develop and following a prior assessment of the road’s accessibility and safety, in accordance with the applicable regulations,” reads the announcement.

The road section between Bâlea Cascadă and Piscul Negru is closed to road traffic annually during winter due to heavy snow and dangerous weather conditions. It usually reopens at the start of summer, sometimes in June.

A project of late communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, the spectacular road that crosses the Carpathian Mountains has been a setting for drive tests, photo shoots, movies, and commercials for sports cars and motorcycles. Its popularity kind of spiked in 2009 when the famous British auto show Top Gear shot one of its episodes on Transfăgărăşan, naming it “the best road in the world.” Some also call it “The Road to the Sky.”