End titles for the most dangerous road in Greece – Patras-Pyrgos highway starts

of Eleni Botas

At the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, the Patras – Pyrgos highway is expected to be completed, one of the major road projects in the country that went through 40 waves until its construction begins.

Today, in the presence of the Prime Minister K. Mitsotakis, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport K. Karamanlis, the Deputy Minister in charge of Infrastructure G. Karagiannis, but also representatives of Olympia Odos, the opening ceremony will take place on the most dangerous and bloody road in the country. at the construction site of Amaliada.

This is a new axis with a length of 74.5 km, which will have a design speed of 120 km / h, 8 uneven junctions, 15 bridges and 64 crossings. It will have an Operation and Maintenance Center with a Traffic Management Unit and a police station.

In the new section, toll stations will operate with the price per kilometer being the same as in the other stations, ie 0.063 minutes. In total, there will be 2 front and 2 side stations.

The analog toll payment system for those who have Olympia Odos transceivers will also operate in Patras-Pyrgos. There are also motorbike service stations, as well as toilets within a few kilometers.

The project will be implemented by Olympia Odos, while the duration of the concession is set at 23 years or expiration period at the end of 2044. The State based on the contract will pay to the Concessionaire a financial contribution of 216.6 million euros.

In particular, 31.23 million euros will be paid immediately and then gradually and with the achievement of the respective time milestone, Olympia Odos will receive 27.56 million euros for the first five landmarks, then 23.79 million euros, 15.86 million and the repayment will be 7.93 million euros.

For its part, Olympia Odos will have to pay a total of 116 million euros.

The construction of the project will be done without the participation of foreign partners (Vinci and HOCHTIEF) but with the Greek companies participating in Olympia Odos, the Patras Tower will be built.

AKTOR with 36%, ABAX with 36% and GEK TERNA with 28% participate in the project after the departure from the construction object of the two foreign Groups.

The bloodiest road in the country

Patras-Pyrgos, after the completion of Corinth-Patras in 2017, is the bloodiest road in the country, perhaps in Europe. In the three years 2016-2018 alone, 37 fatal road accidents were recorded, in which 43 people lost their lives, about one lost every month.

During the same period, there were 11 serious and 124 slightly injured.

In total, in the last decade on this road, there have been 106 fatal road accidents and 130 people have lost their lives. There have also been a total of 41 serious traffic accidents with 75 serious injuries.

The main causes are the bad road (lack of maintenance), the level junctions, illegal unsafe entrances and exits to the road, the problematic planning of the 1980 project and the lack of operational staff.

The benefits of the project

The construction of the Patras – Pyrgos section, as reported by the local bodies, will offer ease of road access to areas that are currently blocked and will give Ilia the opportunity to rearrange its tourist and development environment in general.

This will result in the economic, social and cultural convergence of Ilia with the other two Prefectures of the Region of Western Greece, as the existence of a new modern road network often entails other structures in health, education and tourism (e.g. daily access to the archeological site of Olympia from Athens).

As recently stated by the Executive Vice President, Margaret Westeyer, responsible for competition policy, “The construction of the Patras – Tower section of the Olympia Odos will contribute to the development of the relevant areas and economic activities in these areas.

“This decision allows Greece to support the construction of this important infrastructure, which is part of the trans-European road network and which is also expected to significantly improve road safety conditions in the region.”