Greek Motorway 8 (National Road 8A) - Korinthos Exit

Olympia Odos is a toll motorway system on the Peloponnese in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. Starting from Eleusis in the

Athens metropolitan area The Athens metropolitan area ( el, Μητροπολιτική Περιοχή της Αθήνας) spans within the Attica region and consists of 58 municipalities plus areas of East Attica and West Attica, having reached a population of 3,722,54 ...

, the Olympia Odos motorways follow the Gulf of Corinth to the Rio–Antirrio bridge and the city of Patras, and along the Ionian Sea coastline, in future down to Tsakona (near Meligalas) in the southwestern Peloponnese where it will intersect with the

Moreas Motorway The Moreas Motorway ( el, Αυτοκινητόδρομος Μωρέας, designated: A7) is a motorway in Peloponnese, Greece. The A7 begins just west of the Isthmus of Corinth, branching off from Greek National Road 8A (which is now integrate ...

. ''Olympia Odos'' consists of two highways: * The A8 motorway (Athens – Patras), constructed in 1962–1973 as ''National Road 8α''. During the 1990s the

Elefsina Elefsina ( el, Ελευσίνα ''Elefsina''), or Eleusis (; Ancient Greek: ''Eleusis'') is a suburban city and municipality in the West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is situated about northwest from the centre of Athens and is part of i ...

–

Corinth Corinth ( ; el, Κόρινθος, Kórinthos, ) is the successor to an ancient city, and is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Since the 2011 local government refor ...

section was upgraded to motorway standards. The Corinth – Patras upgrade to motorway standards was completed in April 2017. * The Patras – Pyrgos motorway, designated as motorway A5, which passes by the namesake ancient city of Olympia. This motorway is currently under construction. The motorway is a toll-road linking

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

to Patras and, in the future, will extend a further 163 km to Tsakona in the south-west of the Peloponnese.

History

On 4 August 2008 a public-private partnership deal came into effect with the

Greek state Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

conceding construction and 30 years of maintenance of the ''Olympia Odos'' motorway to the international ''Olympia Odos S.A.'' consortium. In return for the right to collect tolls, the consortium will invest a total of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

2.8 billion for construction and modernization of the highway. The upgrade of the A8 (Elefsina–Corinth–

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

) and the southern section of the A5 (Rio– Pyrgos– Tsakona) by ''Olympia Odos S.A.'' has been described as "the largest and most challenging project currently undertaken in Greece, and one of the most complex ones in Europe.". It also includes the construction of of tunnels and twenty interchanges. Subsequently, preexisting dual carriageway of the Patras bypass and the National Road 8a section Elefsina–Corinth) were further upgraded to full motorway standards. of preexisting

single carriageway A single carriageway (British English) or Undivided highway (American English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road has a s ...

in the Corinth – Patras section were doubled. of the southern A5 section (Patras–Pyrgos–Kalamata) will be newly constructed. The project was expected to take six years to complete, with a completion date scheduled for the end of 2014. The

Greek government-debt crisis Greece faced a sovereign debt crisis in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Widely known in the country as The Crisis ( Greek: Η Κρίση), it reached the populace as a series of sudden reforms and austerity measures that ...

however led to considerable delays. The overall progress of the project in April 2017 was at 95%.

Olympia Odos consortium

The international consortium consists of: * French-based motorway operator

Vinci SA Vinci (corporately styled VINCI) is a French concessions and construction company founded in 1899 as Société Générale d'Enterprises. Its head office is in Nanterre, in the western suburbs of Paris. Vinci is listed on Euronext's Paris sto ...

(29.9%) * German-based construction company

Hochtief Hochtief AG is a German construction company based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.Joannou & Paraskevaides Joannou & Paraskevaides was a Cypriot international building, civil and electromechanical engineering contractor with an involvement in the energy (oil and gas) and industrial sectors operating in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and Asia. ...

(17%) * Greece-based construction company GEK Terna (17%) * Greece-based financial services company Aktor Concessions (17%) * Greece-based company Athena S.A. (2.1%)

References

External links

* {{in lang, en, el Motorways in Greece Toll roads in Greece Buildings and structures in Attica Buildings and structures in Western Greece Transport in Western Greece Buildings and structures in Peloponnese (region) North Athens (regional unit)