Six additional interventions to mitigate the impact on Thessaloniki's traffic from the construction works of the elevated expressway flyover, announced the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras.
Six additional interventions to mitigate the impact on Thessaloniki's traffic from the construction work of the FlyOver elevated expressway, announced the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Staikouras, in a meeting with city agencies held at the Thessaloniki City Hall, in which the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure participated and Transport, responsible for Transport Christina Alexopoulou, the Deputy Minister of Macedonia and Thrace Stathis Konstantinidis, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, responsible for Infrastructure Nikos Tachiaos and the General Secretary of Infrastructure Konstantinos Magoulas.
From the new elevated ring road of Thessaloniki, 10,000 vehicles per hour will be able to pass without tolls, when today 5,000 pass through, while, at the same time, the level of road safety increases and the environmental footprint decreases. The contractual obligations have started from the day of signing the project contract, which was December 2022, and concern a period of 30 years. The delivery of the project is set for May 14, 2027.
It is surprising that the implementation of large public projects, such as this one, causes – temporarily – suffering in the everyday lives of citizens. Already in the summer of 2023, a Coordinating Committee has been established at the Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace, with representatives from the Region, the Municipality, EKAV, OASTH, OSETH, the Ministries of Interior, Infrastructure and Transport and Citizen Protection, and have been adopted a series of actions for the on-site monitoring of traffic and the routing of interventions.
Now a series of additional interventions are presented, which also constitute answers to reasonable requests of parliamentarians, the Local Government, the city bodies, and civil society itself. Some of them are mentioned:
1st. Under the coordination of the Region of Central Macedonia, which has operational units that provide direct information on traffic conditions in the Region, implementation studies are underway to mitigate the effects on the city.
A consultation will follow in the Coordinating Body under the Deputy Minister of the Interior, responsible for Macedonia-Thrace issues.
The contribution of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport will concern the immediate issuance, by the General Directorate of Transport Infrastructure, of decisions approving the studies that will come from the above mechanism, in accordance with the extraordinary procedure established by amending the provisions of the KOK, with the Article 28 of Law 5058/2023.
Within the next few days, the signing of a relevant decision is expected to determine the roads on which the relevant extraordinary procedure will be applied, based on the recommendation of the scientists of the Transport Institute of EKETA, who receive real-time data on the movements on the regional and main roads city arteries, producing signaling programs.
2nd The contract for the lease of parts of the former Karatassiou camp was signed last week, specifically on February 14, with the National Defense Fund to ensure a corridor for ambulances to Hospitals 424 and Papageorgiou.
This will be followed by the construction of the road by the Private Partnership.
3rd. A Ministerial Decision was signed last week, specifically on February 16, for the assignment of responsibilities to EGNATIA ODOS SA for the operation of the Internal Ring Road of Thessaloniki, from the Uneven Junction K5 (Papageorgiou Hospital) to the Uneven Junction K12 (connection with E.O. Thessaloniki-Moudanion) during the construction of the project.
In practice, this means that there will be crane vehicles to remove a car blocking the road on the Ring Road if necessary, while there will also be vehicles to monitor the road so that traffic is not obstructed, and there will also be a road assistance on a 24-hour basis.
4th GAIAOSE and ELLINIKO METRO have already held meetings with the Municipality of Thessaloniki in order to temporarily allocate to it spaces that are freed or may be freed for the construction of outdoor parking spaces.
5th There will be periodic and systematic information of the agencies regarding the development of the project, within the framework of the Coordinating Body.
6th The even greater reinforcement of the OASTH, with buses and staff, is on the way.
Specifically:
1st. The bus fleet in Thessaloniki will be strengthened with the addition of 110 new electric buses in the 2nd quarter of 2024.
The schedule is kept.
For example, after our meeting we will go to the Stavroupoli Station, where the contract for the creation of charging stations will be signed.
2nd The tender is underway for the assignment of bus lines (vehicle, driver and maintenance) to 250 buses, 10 years old or younger, for the next 10+1 years in Thessaloniki.
3rd. We are in the planning phase of the 2nd procurement tender for 750 new buses with anti-pollution technology for Athens and Thessaloniki, of which approximately 225 buses belong to Thessaloniki.
4th Through an ASEP competition, the strengthening of the OASTH with 150 new contracted drivers was completed.
In consultation with the Ministry of the Interior, the possibility of extending the contract period of the new contracted drivers and the possibility of employing an additional approximately 40 drivers, until the end of 2024, is being explored.
That is, until the launch of the Thessaloniki Metro, which is set for this November.
The result of the actions to date is that the number of buses circulating on the streets of Thessaloniki has increased significantly.
Specifically, from 245 buses of OASTH last December, today we approach and, sometimes, exceed 300 buses.
Additionally, OSETH confirmed the increasing trend in urban transport ticket validations (OASTH and KTEL).
Specifically, in 2023, there were 9.6 million ticket validations, 69% more than in 2022.
These are 6 additional interventions to curb the existing problem.