Egnatia Odos or Egnatia Motorway is the Greek part of European route. It is a motorway in Greece that extends from the western port of Igoumenitsa to the eastern Greek–Turkish border at Kipoi. It runs a total of. The megaproject began in 1994 and was completed in 2009 at a cost of €5.93 billion ; it was managed by the company Egnatia Odos, S.A.
Geography
The route traverses the mountainous Greek regions of Epirus and Macedonia, crossing the Pindos and Vermiomountain ranges, which posed formidable engineering challenges. It includes 76 tunnels and 1,650 bridges. It is a limited-access highway with sophisticated electronic surveillance measures, SCADA controls for the lighting/tunnel ventilation, and advanced vehicle collision absorption measures.
*In the primary sector, 54% of total farmland and 65% of total irrigated land
*In the secondary sector, 41% of total industrial employment, and
*51% of total mining activity.
Part of its length, a section of about from Evros to Thessaloniki, parallels the ancient Roman Via Egnatia, which ran from modern Durrës in Albania to Thessaloniki and thence to Byzantium. The project has therefore been dubbed a modern Via Egnatia. However, the parallel is not exact; the original Via Egnatia was much longer and its western section, from Thessaloniki to the Adriatic Sea, ran much further north than the modern road. The project has raised concerns for the survival of nearby sites of ecological and archaeological significance. The construction of the Pindos stretch was delayed due to environmental concerns about the destruction of the habitat of the endangered brown bear. However, a new routing was proposed in 2003, and this part was completed by April 2009. In addition to the main highway, three perpendicular auxiliary highways are under construction connecting the highway to important cities, ports and airports of Macedonia.
History
94 km of the motorway had been built as part of other motorways, before the official project began in 1994. Between 1997 and 2004, 393 km of motorway were built. The main part of the project was completed by 30 May 2009. A final bridge was opened on 10 May 2014
Exit list
The exits of the completed sections of the A2 motorway:
