Transport and Infrastructure Minister Christos Dimas spoke about the 10 kilometers of the Patras-Pyrgos highway that opened to traffic today, on Parapolitika 90.1 radio during the show “Ekeini ki ego,” with journalists Stella Gantona and Thanasis Fouskidis. “On schedule, we first opened the 65 km section from Kaminia to Pyrgos in July, and today we’re opening the remaining 10 kilometers to traffic. Now we have a safe, comfortable highway that connects Athens, Elefsina, Corinth, Patras, and Pyrgos,” Minister Dimas stated initially.
Read more: Patras – Pyrgos highway: New chapter for Western Greece – See images from the inauguration
Christos Dimas: Northern section of E65 to open in second quarter of 2026
Regarding the E65 highway and the Thessaloniki Metro, Minister Dimas stated: “The next major road network project is the delivery of the northern section of the E65. The remaining 40.5 km of the northern section connects Meteora to the Grevena junction on the Egnatia highway. This is a very important highway that will provide much faster access to Western Macedonia and Epirus. It will open to traffic in the second quarter of 2026. Before that, we will open five additional stations on the Thessaloniki Metro. The metro’s operation has changed the city’s daily life, with a 15% reduction in vehicles in the city center. This is a very satisfactory percentage, and with the five additional stations, we will have more passengers using the metro daily.”
Regarding the parking issue in Thessaloniki, he said: “Parking and external areas are issues we address in coordination with local government, where the responsibility lies.”
On the Skaramanga triple junction and the Metamorfosis junction, Minister Dimas said: “Traffic management is not the exclusive responsibility of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport – other ministries have significant responsibilities, as does local government. That said, we recently announced the Skaramanga triple junction, a very important project that we believe will help prevent heavy vehicles from entering the urban fabric of the city. We hope it will be contracted in ’26, and from the contract signing, it requires about three years. A second intervention in the Athens basin that we’ve announced and will be completed within 2026 is at the Metamorfosis junction. We’re making a targeted intervention where cars coming from Elefsina will enter the National Road earlier, and cars coming from the airport will enter from where they enter today. This will be done by changing the exits. Technically, it’s a small project, but it has great significance.”
