The announcement for the Thessaloniki road axis is issued
of her Eleni Botas
In the upgrade of the road Thessaloniki – Edessa, a project to which both the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Costas Karamanlis had mentioned, which would not be tolls and will occur both in the tourist development of Diki Macedonia and in the facilitation of the country’s freight transport, the Ministry is moving forward.
The announcement for the assignment of Financial Council Services for the submission and submission of a dossier for the inclusion of the Project: Publication, Design, Financing for the Upgrading of the E2 road axis (Montenegro – Edessa, Bypass of Giannitsa, Bypass provisions of Law 3389/2005, in order to implement it as a Public Private Sector Partnership (PPP) project, as well as to support the entire reporting process of the Project Partnership Agreement.
The construction of the highway is considered necessary, given that Edessa is the only prefecture in the area that is not directly connected to Thessaloniki.
This results in the passage of vehicles through Chalkidona and Giannitsa with the existing road network being characterized as “carmaniola”.
The studies of the project started 10 years ago, however they were referred to the calendars, due to the high crowds (budget 300 million Euros).
Today, the Thessaloniki – Edessa road axis, with a total length of about 80 km, currently includes sections with insufficient configuration, long slopes, insufficient road sections, poor visibility, and heavy traffic due to the fact that it comes through cities.
The interventions will be carried out in a length of 25 km from the prefecture of Thessaloniki to the prefecture of Pella are the following:
1. Bypasses of Chalkidona – Giannitsa, budget 220 million euros
This is the construction of the bypass of Chalkidona with a length of about 6 km and the bypass of Giannitsa with a length of about 9 km, while it envisages the construction of four uneven junctions: Eleousa, Chalkidona, Paralimni and Giannitsa.
2. Montenegro – Edessa
It envisages the construction of a road section about 10 km long and four lanes wide, which includes two junctions (Rizari, Edessa) and junctions with the Old National Road. The current section Mavrovouni – Edessa, of the highway Thessaloniki – Edessa, part of the Trans-European Network, includes sections with “poor configuration”, while passing through the cities of Mavrovouni and Rizari, causing delays and significant traffic risk.
The project Mavrovouni – Edessa, budget 70 million euros, includes the construction of the road section Mavrovouni – Edessa, length 9.4 km of four lanes, the construction of two junctions (Rizari, Edessa), junctions connecting the existing highway and 18 new bridges along the new road section.
No tolls
There will be no tolls on the Thessaloniki – Edessa road, since the project will be implemented as a non-compensatory PPP.
This means that the Private Partnership Body after the completion of its construction will be responsible for their operation and maintenance for 27 years.
Since its construction, the travel time is expected to be significantly reduced by 6 to 8 minutes for the routes Thessaloniki – Giannitsa and Thessaloniki – Skydra and 10 minutes for the route Thessaloniki – Edessa.
It will also tackle the coherent chain for the smooth movement of passengers and goods with the rest of Europe that creates facilities for all sectors of the economy.
It will contribute to the improvement of transport security as well as to the improvement of the connectivity of the Regions of the country.