Major section of new Ionia highway opened to public

Greece’s Infrastructure and Transport Minister Christos Spirtzis officially opened on Wedensday, a 27-km section of the Ionia highway between the Amphilochia junction and the Arta ring road.

The 27-km section essentially completes an uninterrupted 182-km national highway and is expected to shave at least 20 minutes from the journey time for motorists using that part of the road.

Spirtzis announced that the last section linking the Ionian Highway with the Egnatia Highway is to be delivered in the coming days, with the official inauguration by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to be held in early September.

He also referred to needless delays that had stalled the delivery of the Amphilochia-Arta section of the highway by several months due to problems with expropriations, noting that “some bear responsibility for the delays”. This was an issue that would be examined generally throughout Greece where similar situations concerning projects occurred, he added.

The projects will be fully completed, he added, when an electronic toll system charging on the basis of distance travelled was installed in 2018 and, following consultation with the concessionaires and banks that had funded the projects, there was a reduction in the tolls charged and completion of infrastructure works.

He noted the need to link major urban centres with the highway and the need to build anti-flooding works not provided under the original plans.