In October 2010, a 31 km section of the Maritsa motorway between the towns of Harmanli and Lyubimets officially opened to traffic.

[4] The new interchange at Kapitan Petvo Voyvoda neighbourhood of Svilengrad, providing direct connection with the border crossing to Greece, also opened in October 2010.

[5] The bypass of Kapitan Andreevo village in the border area entered service in August 2014.

[8] The last remaining section, between Chirpan and Haskovo, entered service on 29 October 2015.

[3] The construction of the Chirpan-Haskovo and the Haskovo-Harmanli sections of the motorway were co-funded by EU funds allocated for Bulgaria,[9] while a small section at the Turkish border was co-funded with a loan from the IBRD.