The news in Greek
Η επιστροφή πολλών ανθρώπων μετά το τριήμερο με αφορμή την 28η Οκτωβρίου προκάλεσε κυκλοφοριακά προβλήματα σε ελληνικές εθνικές οδούς, κυρίως προς την Αθήνα. Λόγω έργων, υπήρχαν μεγάλες καθυστερήσεις στην Εθνική Οδό Αθηνών-Λαμίας και Αθηνών-Κορίνθου. Το Υπουργείο Μεταφορών αποφάσισε να σταματήσουν τα διόδια για λίγο, για να βοηθήσουν τους οδηγούς .
Translation
The return of many people after the three-day holiday for the 28th of October caused traffic issues on Greek national roads, especially towards Athens. Due to roadworks, there were significant delays on the Athens-Lamia and Athens-Corinth national roads. The Ministry of Transport decided to temporarily suspend the tolls to help drivers.
Exercise: Text comprehension
Question 1: What event caused many people to return, leading to traffic problems?
The long weekend because of the October 28th holiday caused many people to return.
Question 2: What did the Ministry of Transport do to help drivers?
The Ministry of Transport stopped the tolls temporarily to help drivers.
Exercise: Vocabulary
Read the full story
▌29/10/2024
The return of holidaymakers from the long weekend celebrating the 28th of October led to significant traffic congestion on key Greek highways, particularly affecting those travelling towards Athens. The major causes of these disruptions were ongoing construction works, necessitating a bottleneck in traffic lanes.
Significant slowdowns were reported on the Athens–Lamia National Highway, with cars moving at a crawl due to the reconstruction of a bridge at the 198th kilometre mark. This operation has resulted in a reduction to a single lane for both directions, creating queues that stretched beyond 10 kilometres. Many drivers expressed frustration over not being informed about these construction-related hold-ups at toll points, leading to delays exceeding three hours for a relatively short drive.
Traffic Chaos on Greek Highways Post-Holiday Weekend (Illustration)
Similar scenes unfolded on the Athens–Corinth National Highway as traffic backlogs emerged from Ancient Corinth to Megara. Despite the heavy traffic, those on this route faced somewhat less severe delays compared to the Lamia corridor. By Monday evening, substantial numbers of vehicles, estimating around 32,000 from Athens–Corinth and 26,092 from Athens–Lamia, had returned to the capital. These figures highlight the scale of the post-weekend migration back to Attica.
In Thessaloniki, similar traffic build-ups occurred at the Nea Malgara tolls, where roadworks on the Axios River bridge narrowed three lanes down to one. Delays there also lasted between 30 to 45 minutes as returning travellers navigated the reduced space.
In response to the travel chaos, the Greek Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport took the decision to suspend toll charges at Agia Triada for vehicles travelling towards Athens until midnight, aiming to alleviate driver frustration. Additionally, restrictions were placed on heavy vehicles, prohibiting those over 3.5 tonnes from entering the main highway routes until late evening.
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