Athens-Thessaloniki Motorway: Tempi and Platamonas Detours now in operation

The country’s most strategic project is now complete along with the last pending sections of Aegean Motorway on Athens-Thessaloniki axis. The 25 km of Tempi and Platamonas Detours, inaugurated by PM Alexis Tsipras earlier, are essentially concluding a series of construction works that started back in the distant 1970s. From now on Athens-Thessaloniki road will be a continuous covered motorway.

The completion of Tempi Detour

Evangelismos-Skotina section, which will be bypassing the dangerous curves of Tempi and Platamonas, comprises 25 km, 11 of which are tunnels. The middle tunnel, the long Tempi Tunnel has a length of 6 km and is the longest in the Balkans. Each tunnel has two lanes per direction.

The other 2 tunnels, at Tempi and Platamonas, have a length of 2 and 3 km respectively, 2 lanes per direction and a hard shoulder. All tunnels are equipped with state of the art electromechanical systems:  Traffic monitoring equipment, air ventilation, lighting, SCADA, emergency phones, signaling, electronic message boards etc.

The rest of the new section has also 2 lanes per direction plus hard shoulder and a parapet in the middle.  Time distance for driving through this passage, will be reduced to 15 minutes, compared to 40 minutes till now.

Athens-Thessaloniki road axis is now complete

The ribbon cutting ceremony today, among others, signified the definite completion of Athens-Thessaloniki axis with an overall length of 503 km. Metamorfosi-Shimatari (70 km) and Skotina-Thessaloniki (90 km) sections feature 3 lanes per direction plus hard shoulder whereas Shimatari-Skotina, 2 lanes per direction plus hard shoulder. Drivers and road logistics will be benefited immensely by the road completion as driving between the country’s two largest cities will be safer and time distance even shorter. Tourism is expected to experience an increase as well.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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