Highways in Greece

Motorways

Greece's motorway network has been extensively modernised throughout the 2000s and part of it is still under construction. Most of it is expected to be completed by early 2017. There are a total of 10 main routes throughout the Greek mainland and Crete, from which some feature numerous branches/auxiliary routes, as described in the listing below.

A1

Motorway 1 (A1), colloquially referred to as the PAThE motorway (derived from the initials of the route: Piraeus – Athens – Thessaloniki – Evzoni (the border crossing with the Republic of Macedonia)); is the oldest and most important motorway of Greece, connecting the country's largest cities, Athens and Thessaloniki and passing through many important regions of Greece on a south-north direction. Most of the route has been upgraded to motorway standards, expept for 25 kilometres through the Tempe Valley.

As of summer 2008, works were in progress around the Malian Gulf, due to be completed in 2010. Most of the route around the bay, was completed in April 2008, but due to delays, the last part (the 17 km Stylida-Karavomylos bypass) was finally given to traffic on March 16, 2015. At Tempe valley, works started in 2008, in order to be completed around 2012, but due to severe delays they will be completed in early 2017. This part will include 11 km of tunnels, made mostly for environmental protection and, of course, road safety. Furthermore, the section between Thessaloniki and Evzoni, is yet to be converted into motorway, but this is not planned to happen in the near future.

The full length of this motorway is around 553 km or 346 miles, including 14 km or 8.7 miles of shared route with the A2 (Egnatia Odos). Note that until recently, the "P" in "PAThE" referred to Patras, but the Patra – Athens section has now become part of the A8 (Olympia Odos) motorway, belonging to a different project.

A2 (Egnatia Odos)

Motorway 2 (A2), colloquially referred to as the Egnatia Odos, is a new motorway starting at the port of Igoumenitsa and ending at the Turkish border crossing in Evros.

The Egnatia Odos is also known as the "horizontal road axis" of Greece, connecting almost all of Northern Greece from west to east; and provides access to various other locations, as well as international borders with various "vertical routes" that begin from various locations along the A2.

Specifically, there are auxiliary routes to Albania and Bulgaria, with the main route leading to Turkey. The Republic of Macedonia is accessed through the A1 (PAThE), as described above. Another auxiliary route runs close to the Evros river in the prefecture of the same name, reaching a point where Greece's, Turkey's and Bulgaria's borders meet. Some of those auxiliary routes are not motorways, but typical 2-lane highways, but are of considerable higher quality than other similar highways in the rest of Greece. The project (including most of the auxiliary routes), was completed in 2009, with the length of the main route being 670 kilometres or 416 miles, making it the longest motorway in Greece.

A3

Motorway 3 (A3), or the Central Greece Motorway is currently under construction starting from Lamia (at the A1) and ending at the A2 (Egnatia Odos), close to Grevena. It will be part of the E65 and be 175 kilometres or 109 miles long. Construction started on June 2007. Work was halted in 2011 due to economic problems of the construction companies but resumed in mid-2013. The motorway is expected to be completed early 2016 but construction date of the part from Kalampaka to the Egnatia Odos junction is yet unknown.

A5 (Ionia Odos)

Motorway 5 (A5), also referred to as the Ionia Odos, is another motorway currently under construction. It starts from Ioannina at the A2 (Egnatia Odos) interchange, and ends at Rio, in Patras, after crossing the Corinthian Gulf through the Rio-Antirrio bridge. There, it connects to the A8 motorway (see below).

The route passes through most of western continental Greece, along the Ionian Sea, hence its name "Ionia Odos". Work on the majority of the highway began in spring 2006 and would span six years, to be completed by 2012. Though, because of economical problems of the constructing companies, all construction works were halted in 2011, but since mid-2013 works on the whole of the 196 km motorway are undergoing. Completion of the motorway is expected by 2017. Completed parts include the Arta and the Agrinio bypasses with lengths of 33 km and 17 km respectively, as well as the 25 km segment bypassing Amfilochia, which was opened to traffic in 27 December 2016, and together with the Agrinio bypass, create a contiguous motorway with a length of 59 km.

A6 (Attiki Odos)

Motorway 6 (A6), or Attiki Odos forms part of the urban motorway network of Athens's metropolitan area. Its full length is 65 kilometres (40 mi) and it is also planned to be extended to various directions, bringing its total length to 141 km (88 mi). The Attiki Odos has various auxiliary routes, namely the Aigaleo Beltway (A65) and the Hymettus Beltway (A64), serving parts of western and eastern Athens respectively; while the 6 km (4 mi) section leading from the main route to the Athens International Airport is numbered as the A62.

A7 (Moreas)

Motorway 7 (A7), known as the Moreas Motorway or Eastern Peloponnese motorway starts from Corinth, at the interchange with the A8 (Olympia Odos) and continues to Kalamata, passing through Tripoli. It replaced the old GR-7 as the main road, with the section between Corinth and Tripoli, constructed between 1984 and 1990 and officially becoming part of the Greek road network in 1992.

The A7 has recently undergone extensive improvement to full motorway standards. As of December 2012, the motorway section between Corinth and Kalamata is fully constructed and operational. Its total length is 205 kilometres or 127 miles.

A8 (Olympia Odos)

Motorway 8 (A8), referred to as the Olympia Odos, is the motorway under construction, from Athens to Patras. It begins in Elefsina, at the interchange with A6 (Attiki Odos) and will end in Patras.

The Elefsina–Corinth section has been completed to motorway standards, while the Corinth – Patras section begun construction in 2008, and was due to be completed in 2012. After construction works had begun again the whole motorway will be completed by late-2016 or early-2017. It will mostly include the widening and general reconstruction of the GR-8A along with some new tunnels and bridges.

A90

Motorway 90 (A90) is a temporary name for a motorway under construction in Crete. It is more widely known as North Road Axis of Crete (Greek: Βόρειος Οδικός Άξονας Κρήτης, BOAK) and is Greece's only motorway that is not on its mainland, but on an island. Certain parts have already been completed, as of summer 2007, at Heraklion and Chania. In late 2014, the Agios Nikolaos - Kalo Chorio part (which also serves as a bypass of Agios Nikolaos) was opened to traffic. Its full length will be 310 kilometres or 193 miles. Other sources claim it to be 250 km or 156 mi.

List of motorways

Motorroads

The Motor-Roads in Greece constructed in Regions how connected Motorways or other Main-Roads. The most Motor-Roads constructed in the Regions of Athens and Thessaloniki. A lot Motor-Roads constructed by the Egnatia A.E. and connected the A2 with other Roads and Regions. All the Greek motorroads more detail in the list:

National roads

Current construction projects in Greece

Currently, there are several construction projects all over Greece.

Correlation with European routes

This is a list of European routes that shows which parts of them run through Greece.

Major routes:

Other routes:

Note: When certain highways that carry European routes are replaced with motorways, the European routes will be reassigned to the new motorways. For example, GR-7 carried the E65 from Tripoli to Kalamata. When the Corinth – Tripoli – Kalamata motorway was completed, the E65 numbering was reassigned to it.