Ionia Highway – just a breath away from completion

Sanela Kovačević, 11.11.2016.
 
The main section of Motorway 5, Ionia Highway that will bring the northern Greek roadway in Epirus to the 21st century is just a short breath away from completion. The motorway will almost be ready with just a fraction of the 196 km roadway remaining before it is open to the public.

In 2006 the government signed a $1.8 billion agreement with a consortium of Greek and Spanish contractors - Euroionia Joint Venture (Terna SA, Dragados SA and Ferrovial SA) for the construction of a 237-mile highway which started in 2008.
The road axes will include 24 bridges, 4 tunnels and 74 underground thoroughfares and 36 upper thoroughfares. These will make the journey more comfortable and faster while also taking passenger safety into account.
 
undefined

Fig. 1 Ionia Highway

With the new highway drivers will be able to travel at 130km per hour from the Rio-Antirrio bridge towards Ioannina, and to arrive at the destination in one and a half hours, slashing the completion of the route by half, even during rush hour.

Construction progress can be seen in a recently recorded video (from September 2016):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-MlVibFmd8

Source: greekreporter