Kyriakos Mitsotakis: 42.5 km of the highway of Central Greece are handed over to traffic

The sections of the E65 Lamia – Xyniada and Trikala – Kalambaka that will join the “blind” section of the highway (Xyniada – Trikala) are being handed over at this time by TERNA in an event in the presence of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Watch the event live

“This project is credited to the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The E65 is a development fuse for the region” noted Deputy Minister of Transport Nikos Tachiaos in his greeting. “The next step after the inauguration is the announcement of the Thessaly program by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.

The play

This is 136 kilometers out of the total 182 kilometers of his concession Axis of Central Greece, with the delivery of which the E65 becomes a modern and safe highway from Lamia to Kalambaka, covering important tourist destinations of the country such as Meteora, Lake Plastira, Karpenissi and Trikala. In addition, E65 will connect the port of Igoumenitsa, which acts as Greece’s gateway to central Europe, with the port of Volos, thus facilitating international passenger and freight transport.

The project was completed after many obstacles as the southern part of the Axis of Central Greece was faced with the floods of Janos and Daniel and also with the change of the alignment a few kilometers before the Othrios tunnel due to construction failures in the ERGOSE railway tunnel. This resulted in its delivery being delayed by approximately 2.5 years. With the new highway, the journey from the port of Piraeus to the Balkans will be reduced by two hours, while the journey from Lamia to Egnatia will last 1 hour and 45 minutes. The road axis also limits the distance for other destinations, as for Athens – Grevena and Athens – Metsovo, the journey will be reduced to approximately 4 hours, while the journey to Kastoria and Kozani will last 4.5 hours. According to the head of the concession and operation company of the Central Road, Mr. Rodianos Antonakopoulos, the Athens-Ioannina distance with the new highway will take the same time as the journey through the Ionian Road, i.e. through Rio-Antirrio. As far as the cost of the toll from Lamia to Kalambaka is concerned, it will amount to 8.2 euros.

The northern part of the 70.5 km long project remains, of which 25 km are being delivered today together with the section from the Karpenisi junction to the Xiniada junction with a total length of 18 km. The northern part of the E65 is expected to be delivered in 2026, later than initial schedule due to delays in project expropriations.

New toll stations

With the delivery of the 42.5 km toll stations, only the Lianokladi frontal station will be added (the Sofadon and Trikala frontal stations are already in operation) and with the operation of the northern section, the Oxynia station in the Greveni area will also be included.

According to the operating company upon completion of the project, which will cost a total of 1.39 billion, the average daily traffic is estimated to be between 9,000 and 10,000.

It is worth noting that the corresponding traffic for the Lamia Xyniada section, which is also the first section of the road axis that was handed over to traffic, amounts to 5000 per day.

At the same time, the last 46 km of the highway are being built from Terna, which will start from the uneven Kalambakas junction and will reach Egnatia road west of Grevena.

For their construction, two central and two supporting facilities operate with 780 personnel and 440 project machines and trucks. It is estimated that 200 staff will be released from the section of the E65 delivered today, which will be channeled into the construction of the northern axis of the motorway and other projects.

Othrios tunnel

The E65 also includes the 3 km long twin tunnel of Othrios, 11 meters wide and a typical cross-section per branch of 3.75 meters wide. This is a tunnel that penetrates the mountainous mass of Othrios through areas with intense water flow. The tunnel is equipped with all modern security and traffic management systems.

All systems via a fiber optic network have been integrated and are visualized in the central control system of the highway located in Sovades. In the event that for any reason the communication between the tunnel and the control center is lost, it is possible to monitor and control it from the local center located at the entrance of the T2 tunnel. The tunnel has a fire extinguishing system, ventilation and smoke extraction systems, camera systems equipped with an automatic event detection system, lighting systems and an RDS system for the uninterrupted broadcast of radio stations. The tunnel has been licensed for use by the tunnel authority.

News today:

April 23, 2010: The protagonists of the first memorandum 14 years later

Alec Baldwin smashes woman’s cell phone after she insists on saying ‘free Palestine’ – Watch video

Elon Musk was excited about Eleni Tsolaki – “Wonderful way to wake up in Greece”