Trade with Greece
105
A
race with time is already underway
regarding the completion of the final
sections of major motorway projects,
and in the first half of this year Greece will be able
to boast one of the most comprehensive road net-
works in Europe, with a total length of more than
900 km.
In 2017, Greece is expecting to see the comple-
tion of five major motorways, after many years of
delays and serious problems.
Olympia Odos, which will link three Greek
regions, as well as the capital city of Athens with
Greece’s most important gateway to Europe, the
port of Patras, is soon to be completed. This proj-
ect also includes a series of motorway exten-
sions, most of which will start being delivered this
April, in many places all over Greece.
Since March 2017, this new, modern and conven-
ient motorway will offer an upgraded and safer
connection with Greece’s south-western part.
Since the Concession Agreement came into force
in August 2008, and until today, the efforts to
upgrade road safety have borne significant
results, as the total number of fatal road accidents
has been drastically reduced by 60% (13 fatal
accidents in 2016, as compared to 33 in 2008).
The completion and delivery of the Vale of Tempe
and Platamonas by-pass section of the Agean
Motorway has also entered its final stage.
This 25 km section, which includes the longest
road tunnel in Greece and the Balkans, i.e. the 6-
kilometer-long Vale of Tempe tunnel, and two
additional tunnels, 2 and 3 km long, also in Tempe
and in Platamonas respectively, will be delivered
for use by the end of March 2017.
The project also includes 14 km of open road con-
struction between the tunnels and at the junction
with the National Road at Evangelismos and
Skotina.
With the delivery of this 25 km section, and after
more than 30 years of works, the project is now
complete, and the main road axis of Greece, the
500 km Athens-Thessaloniki road connection, will
become a safe motorway in its entirety. The
Evangelismos-Skotina section will be covered in
almost 12 minutes of safe driving, instead of the
current 30 minutes, i.e. 20 minutes faster, while
the journey from Athens to Thessaloniki will take
no more than 4 hours.
The Ionian Highway (Ionia Odos) will also be
ready in March 2017, offering faster and safer
road travel to Western Greece. This is a 196 km
project, which covers the distance from the Rion-
Antirion suspension bridge to the city of Ioannina.
Two additional interventions and the delivery of
small sections of the road along the Ioannina-
Antirion route will drastically reduce the time of
travel. The interventions concern the completion
of two large sections, from Kouvaras to
Amphilochia and from Fillipiada to Ioannina, with
a total length of 105 km. It is estimated that,
together with the Agrinio by-pass, these interven-
tions will reduce travel times by almost an hour,
while following the completion of the project in
March 2017 the trip from the Rion-Antirion bridge
to Ioannina will take 1 hour and 40 minutes,
instead of the current three hours.
The gradual completion of major road projects is
By Panayotis Efthimiades
Major motorways, the Metro, and the railway system:
these are the areas in which the year 2017 is expected
to bring about serious developments, with projects
that will change our everyday life.
Major public works
projects: one final step
to go
