Ionian Motorway close to completion

Antirrio-Ioannina road axis, aka Ionian Motorway is now nearing the finishing line of its construction works. Yesterday, the penultimate section from the Amphilochia Interchange to Arta Detou with a length of about 27 kilometers long, was released to traffic.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony was addressed by the Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. Christos Spirtzis, the Regional Governor of Epirus, Mr. Kachrimanis and several other local bodies. The section delivered yesterday is one of the most technically challenging of Ionian Motorway as it is bypasses the curves in Menidi area reducing the time distance between Amphilochia Interchange and Arta Bypass, by 50%; i.e. from 40 minutes till now (through the old network) to just 20 minutes.

With the release of these additional 27 km, Ionian Motorway is becoming a continuous covered motorway with a total length of 182 km. According to information provided by the concessionaire at Ypodomes.com, as of today, traffic will be interrupted in the section of Filippiada-Perdika until August 2 in order to facilitate the final works for the last 14 km that will connect Ionian Motorway to the existing Egnatia Motorway (Perdika-Kosmira Ioannina). After that, a fully completed and functional, covered motorway featuring 196 km will be made available to the public.

Ionian Motorway is featuring, 2 lanes plus shoulder per direction. It also includes 5 bridges, 22 upper and lower crossings and 34 drains. At the drivers’ disposal are also temporary parking spaces with WC.

Now, the journey from Antirrio to Ioannina, through the available sections of Ionian Motorway, will take about 1 hour and 45 minutes, instead of almost 3 and a half hours that were required through the existing old road. Upon the new motorway’s completion, time distance between Antirrio and Ioannina will drop even further to just 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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