EU to co-finance studies for new northern Greek highway

The 1116 European Union is to help finance studies for the northern border section of the Ionian Highway in Greece. Some €1.56 million is being provided through the TEN-T Programme to help pay for a series of studies required to prepare for the project’s tender process. The studies will cost some €3.12 million in all and related to a 46km stretch of highway connecting the Egnatia Odos-Ionian Highway interchange and Kakavia.The initiative was selected for funding under the 2012 TEN-T Annual Call and includes carrying out the necessary preliminary and final design studies, geotechnical surveys, a cost-benefit analysis and the health and safety Plan. The new section of highway will help cope with increased traffic flow to and from Albania as well as connecting northwest Greece with Italy, Slovenia and the other EU Member States through the sea corridors that pass from the ports of Igoumenitsa and Patra. The project will also help upgrade transport infrastructure in western and northern Greece, as well as reducing reduce travelling times and increasing road safety. The studies will be monitored by the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) and are set to be completed by the end of 2015. The section of road connects from Egnatia Odos, via the Ionian Highway Interchange to Kakavia and is the Cross-border point of the country's road connection to the EU and Albania. The studies will focus on the 46km section from the end of the concession to Kalpaki IC, and will include three interchanges along the final 16km from the Agioi bridge to Kakavia. The work is complementary to the already co-financed Action 'Ionian Highway (Western Axis) from the end of concession to Kakavia'.