It is not to be mistaken with the partially opened Bucharest Ring Motorway (Romanian: Autostrada Centura București), which encircles the city at a further distance.

The northern section has been widened to four lanes in 2010,[2] between the Chitila (DN7) and the Voluntari (DN2) junctions,[3] and a cable-stayed bridge was opened along the ring road in April 2011, in the Otopeni area, which overpasses the railway ring[4] (built by a joint-venture of the Spanish company FCC and the Austrian company Alpine).

[5] It is planned to be further upgraded, in both the northern,[6] and the southern sections,[7] with construction contracts awarded in 2012 and 2009 respectively.

[8] The contract for the section between the DN2 and the A2 junctions was terminated (at 7% completion status) in February 2015,[9] as the construction company became insolvent (the Romanian company Tehnologica Radion),[10] and, although it was later awarded again in February 2018 to a joint-venture led by the Chinese company Sinohydro,[11] this result was challenged and rejected, the final decision still pending to be given.

[12] The section between the DN7 and the A1 junctions (built by a joint-venture led by the Romanian company Delta ACM 93)[8] was opened to traffic on four lanes in September and October 2017,[13][14] but with reportedly incomplete works.