Attiki Odos: green light for the urban tunnel at Kymis Avenue in Northern Athens

Another step was made towards the direction of the implementation of the first extension of the Attiki Odos, which concerns the extension of Kymi Avenue to the Athens-Thessaloniki national road, at the height of Lykovrisi.

More specifically, the Municipality of Heraklion ( through which the new axis will pass) unanimously approved the feasibility of the project that will extend Kymi Avenue and connect it with the National Road, giving passage to the through traffic, which in the current situation is channeled into from the urban fabric.

In addition to the approval, the Municipality requests the opening of L. Kymi to construct the opening with undergrounding of the part of the extension that passes within the boundaries of the Municipality of Heraklion, Attica “in order not to disturb the quality of life of the residents and the functionality of the whole of the city due to the interruption of the continuity of the urban fabric, a phenomenon that Heraklion is already experiencing given the passage of traffic routes such as Attiki Odos and the ISAP line ”as mentioned in the decision.

Furthermore, the Municipality of Heraklion is asking for some reciprocal benefits. More specifically, it calls for the construction of green spaces, sports infrastructure and other common areas in the now covered part of Kymi Avenue as compensatory projects.

What is the task of expanding the Attiki Odos through L. Kymi

The expansion plan of Attiki Odos as promoted by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has as its object three projects. The most mature of these is the extension of Kymi Avenue to the National Road. According to the plan, the total length of the extension of Kymi Avenue will be about 4 km, most of which are an urban tunnel of about 3 km that will pass under the northern suburbs of Athens. More specifically, it will pass under Pefki and Lykovrisi.

According to studies that have been prepared, the transportation model shows that with a time horizon in 2027 there will be road congestion points in the wider metropolitan area of ​​Attica, including large sections of the two main highways of Kifissos Avenue (A1 and A8) and Attiki Odos. ). An important intervention is the extension of Kymi Avenue to Kifissos which will alleviate the traffic jam at the exit with Attiki Odos.

In 2021 the project will be auctioned

Its cost is estimated at around 250 million euros (excluding VAT) and its funding will be sought from the Recovery Fund. It is one of the projects that is considered to easily gain EU approval. The project is expected to be another “battlefield” between the country’s major technical groups.

Today the maturation of the project is in the final stage and it remains to update the land registry for the necessary expropriations (in the department within the city). There is also the preparation of some final studies that will be completed in the first half of 2021. The estimate is that within 2021 the project will be able to be announced and completed by 2025.

The plans of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Costas Karamanlis, are to implement two more extensions. One is another urban tunnel that connects L. Katehaki with L. Vouliagmenis and the other is the extension of Attiki Odos to the Port of Rafina.