Giorgos Karagiannis: At the end of 2022, the tender process for “Argostoli – Poros” will begin

The tender for the “Improvement of the Argostoli – Poros Road axis” project with a budget of 55 million euros is expected to start at the end of 2022, while significant design maturity has already been achieved.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was informed about the project by the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Giorgos Karagiannis, during his visit to Kefalonia.

As noted by the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Giorgos Karagiannis: “This is an important day for Kefalonia, as a request of the local community for years, the upgrading of the road connection ‘Argostoli-Poros’ begins. At the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, we realized from the first moment that the road connecting the port of the island with Argostoli needed our intervention, in order to be able to respond to its role and to the increased needs of movement.

We quickly characterized the 55 million euro budget project, national level by decision of the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Costas Karamanlis, we matured it in terms of design and by the end of 2022 we will announce the tender, so that its construction can then begin.

Kefalonia, the inhabitants of the island and its visitors, will have at their disposal a modern road. Travel will be faster, up to 20% of the current time, but above all, it will be safer. We are also taking care to strengthen the resilience of the road in case of severe weather phenomena that have ‘hurt’ the island in the past.

We demonstrate with projects to the residents of Kefalonia that the state and the government of Kyriakos Mitsotakis are by their side and are proceeding with all those initiatives that ensure the well-being of the place.”

The time horizon for implementation is three years, including the time of the tender process until the signing of the contract.

Benefits

The road passes through a multitude of settlements (Trauliata, Peratata, Vlachata, Plateies, Valeriano, Pastra, Agia Irini, Tzanata) and has characteristics that vary significantly by section. This has the consequence that the average speed does not exceed 50km/h without the possibility of overtaking, resulting in increased risk and a journey time of up to one hour.

The construction of the project achieves:

• The increase of road safety by providing the possibility of safe overtaking at a rate of more than 20% in each direction of traffic evenly distributed along the route, taking measures to prevent accidents inside and outside settlements and the application of anti-slip asphalt carpet along the entire length.
• The reduction of the total travel time by approximately 20%, due to the available overtaking lengths of approximately 7km in each direction of traffic.
• Strengthening the resilience of the road in case of heavy rains like Janus by replacing all the culverts and building retaining walls.

Specifications

Along the road, the following works are planned, among others:

• Sections within settlements with a total length of 14 km: Mild measures to improve road safety.
• Sections outside settlements with mock uses of a total length of 8 km: Improvement of the marking and widening of the road.
• Interurban sections with a total length of 15 km: Improvement of the marking and provision of a 3rd alternating overtaking lane with an increase in the width of the road.
• Construction of 12 level nodes in the main connections.
• Construction of a new bridge at the entrance of Poros for the smooth flow of traffic.
• Replacement of all 97 existing road culverts with new ones.
• Non-slip asphalt traffic layer along the entire length.
• Installation of safety parapets.

Port of Argostoli

Afterwards, Mr. Karagiannis informed the prime minister about the targeted actions being implemented in the port of Argostoli.

The interventions carried out are intended to upgrade the quality of life of the residents and visitors of the city of Argostoli, to improve the image of the area and to upgrade the port infrastructure.

In particular, work is being carried out to deal with the damage caused to the central port of Argostoli and at the same time the overall image of the city’s waterfront is changing.

The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2023.

At the same time, the master plan of the port is being updated and planning is progressing for the relocation of the commercial part of the port from the city. The benefit will be the decongestion of the urban fabric from the traffic of large vehicles and the upgrading of the overall image of the city. In addition, the level of road safety is significantly improved.

Under study is the construction of a new commercial pier in the eastern part of the port, in the area of ​​Drapanos, satisfying the relevant request of the Municipal Authority for the transfer of the commercial part of the port to Drapanos.

RES-EMP

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