Aegean Motorway to inaugurate the country’s ribbon-cutting streak with the release of Tempi and Platamonas Detours

The construction stage of the country’s new motorway network will be, inevitably, concluded in less than a month’s time. As all projects balance on a very tight schedule, we are holding our breaths till the completion of all pending works, just a few weeks later.

Good news is that Evangelismos-Skotina section will be definitely released by March 31. Sources from the Infrastructure Ministry told Ypodomes.com that the procedures for the operation of the aforementioned section, that includes the big Tempi Tunnel (6 km long) as well as another 2 smaller ones, have already started making Aegean Motorway the most likely to be the first fully completed Motorway among the 4 axes soon to become operational.

These tunnels will also be the last pieces of the puzzle regarding the creation of a solid, continuous covered motorway covering all 503 km between Athens and Thessaloniki. After 45 years of upgrade works, Athens-Thessaloniki axis will be finally 100% ready, reducing the time distance between the country’s two largest cities to just 4 hours along with a sufficient interconnection of Thessaly and Central Macedonia regions.

Intercity buses, logistics sector and road transportation in general will be benefited immensely by the new road as it will not only facilitate access in the country’s interior but it will establish a reliable connection to Northern Europe via Thessaloniki-Evzoni extension to the North (leading to the borders with FYROM).

The travel time that Evangelismos-Skotina will be saving for the drivers will vary depending on the traffic. Nevertheless, even during heavy congestion, it will be much faster in comparison to the long queues that were formed for many kilometers until now, causing a waiting time up to 1 hour for a length of just 25 km!

And all this, of course, in a safe and modern motorway that will override the use of the obsolete and dangerous old passage which happens to be one of deadliest sections in the Greek road network.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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