The Egnatia highway is a priority European Union project and one of 14 in the trans-European network. It runs from the Ionian port of Igoumenitsa where ferries link to the Italian highway network, as far as Kipi on the Turkish border.
Onward routes eastwards will be important for Middle East/European trade and the road will help form a link between the Black Sea, the Adriatic and key Greek Aegian ports.
Nine ‘vertical axes’, being managed by Egnatia Odos, tie in with trans-European north/south routes, either existing or planned, and with the Balkan countries as well as southwards within Greece.
The route is named after the original Roman road built for similar purposes by Gaius Ignatius in the second century BC.
Further east, where sections are already opening, the road is relieving traffic around congested cities and speeding heavy goods movement at ports. More will come on stream in the next two years in the flat eastern sector towards Turkey and in the central part of the project near Thessaloniki.
Meanwhile, the Dr1,200bn ($3bn) project is also transforming the Greek construction industry with a wealth of experience in large-scale construction, project management, bridge technique and, most crucially, tunnelling.
Designers and contractors are battling with dozens of tunnels, from 200m long to 4.6km, through some of the most difficult and jumbled ground in Europe. Half of the 75 tunnels are under construction and workers and engineers are developing international levels of tunnelling expertise.
Related Files
Its connections to the rest of Europe
Location of the Egnatia highway
