The highway network remained relatively underdeveloped in the late 1980s. Of 72,799 kilometers of roads in 1985, only 11,000 could be classified modern by international standards. In 1985 the system included 15,762 kilometers of concrete, 20,208 kilometers of black-top, 27,729 kilometers of gravel, and 9,100 kilometers of dirt roads. During the 1970s and 1980s, highways took on a larger share of freight and passenger transport, although the PCR program for the late 1980s attempted to reverse the trend. Among major road construction projects of the Ceausescu era, the Trans-Fagarasan Highway, the Sibiu-Bucharest-Constanta super-highway, and the Cernavoda Bridge (the longest on the Danube) were the most noteworthy.

Data as of July 1989