Egnatia Odos (modern road)

The route traverses the mountainous Greek regions of Epirus and Macedonia, crossing the Pindos and Vermio mountain ranges, which posed formidable engineering challenges. It includes 76 tunnels (with a combined length of 99 km / 61.5 miles) and 1,650 bridges. It is a limited-access highway with sophisticated electronic surveillance measures, SCADA controls for the lighting/tunnel ventilation, and advanced vehicle collision absorption measures.[2]

• Stretching: From the port of Igoumenitsa, Thesprotia to the border crossing of Kipoi, on the River Evros
• Total length: 670 kilometres
• Serving the regional units: Thesprotia – Ioannina – Grevena – Kozani – Imathia – Thessaloniki – Kavala – Xanthi – Rhodope – Evros.
• Linked with nine major vertical axes connecting to the neighbouring countries in the north (Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey).
• Passing through the towns of: Igoumenitsa – Ioannina – Metsovo – Grevena – Kozani – Veroia – Thessaloniki – Kavala – Xanthi – Komotini – Alexandroupolis
• Linked to the Ports of: Igoumenitsa – Thessaloniki – Kavala – Alexandroupolis
• Linked to the Airports of: Ioannina – Kastoria – Kozani – Thessaloniki – Kavala – Alexandroupolis
• Technical characteristics: Two traffic lanes per direction, a central reserve and an emergency lane on the right.
• The area served accounts for:
  • 36% of the country's total population
  • 33% of its total gross national product
  • In the primary sector, 54% of total farmland and 65% of total irrigated land
  • In the secondary sector, 41% of total industrial employment, and
  • 51% of total mining activity.

Part of its length, a section of about 360 km (220 mi) from Evros to Thessaloniki, parallels the ancient Roman Via Egnatia, which ran from modern Durrës in Albania to Thessaloniki and thence to Byzantium (now Istanbul, Turkey). The project has therefore been dubbed a modern Via Egnatia (in Greek, Egnatia Odos / Εγνατία Οδός). However, the parallel is not exact; the original Via Egnatia was much longer (1,120 km / 696 miles) and its western section, from Thessaloniki to the Adriatic Sea, ran much further north than the modern road.

The project has raised concerns for the survival of nearby sites of ecological and archaeological significance. The construction of the Pindos stretch (i.e. from Grevena to Ioannina) was delayed due to environmental concerns about the destruction of the habitat of the endangered brown bear. However, a new routing was proposed in 2003, and this part was completed by April 2009.

In addition to the main highway, three perpendicular auxiliary highways are under construction connecting the highway to important cities, ports and airports of Macedonia.

Arachthos river bridge under construction in 2008

94 km of the motorway had been built as part of other motorways, before the official project began in 1994. Between 1997 and 2004, 393 km of motorway were built.[3] The main part of the project was completed by 30 May 2009. [4] A final bridge was opened on 10 May 2014 [5]

The exits of the completed sections of the A2 motorway:[6]

Regional unit	Exit	Name	Destinations	Notes/Also as
Evros		Kipoi-İpsala border crossing	D.110D110 E90 to  Turkey	eastern terminus of the A2
	43	Ardani	GR-51 E85 to  Bulgaria,  Turkey	E90
	42	Alexandroupoli industrial area		E90
	41	Alexandroupoli		E90
	40	Makri		E90
	39	Mesti	GR-2 also to Sapes and Maronia	E90
Rhodope	38	Komotini east	GR-2 Corridor IX to  Bulgaria	E90
	37	Komotini west	GR-2	E90
	36	Iasmos		E90
Xanthi	35	Xanthi east	GR-2	E90
	34	Xanthi west		E90
Kavala	33	Chrysoupoli		E90
	32A	Perni		E90
	32	Lefki	GR-2	E90
	31	Kavala east	GR-12 Also to Drama	E90
	30	Palio		E90
	29	Kavala west		E90
	28C	Eleftheroupoli		E90
	28B	Moustheni		E90
	28A	Galypsos – Orfani		E90
Serres	28	Strymonas	GR-2 GR-59 to Serres, Drama	E90
Thessaloniki	27	Asprovalta		E90
	26	Rentina		E90
	25A	Nymfopetra		E90
	25	Profitis	GR-2	E90
	24	Lagadas	A25 E79 to Serres,  Bulgaria	E90
	23B	Derveni		E90
	23A	Girokomeio		E90
	23/K4	Efkarpia	A24 to Thessaloniki, Nea Moudania	E90
	22/K2	Diavata	GR-2 E86 to Giannitsa, Edessa	E90
	21/K1	Kalochori	GR-1β	E90
	20	Sindos south		E90
	20A	Chalastra		E90
	19	Axios	A1 E75 to the  Republic of North Macedonia	E90
	18	Nea Malgara		E90 E75
Imathia	17	Kleidi	A1 E75 to Athens	E90
	16	Alexandreia		E90
	15	Kouloura		E90
		Mesi	to Naousa, Skydra	Planned
	14	Veria		E90
Kozani	13	Polymylos		E90
	12	Kozani	A27 E65 to the  Republic of North Macedonia GR-3 E65 to Larissa	E90
	11	Kalamia	GR-20	E90
	10	Siatista east		E90
	9A	Siatista west	A29 to  Albania	E90
Grevena	9	Grevena east	GR-15	E90
	8B	Grevena west	GR-15	E90
	8A	Venetikos		E90
		Kipoureio	A3	Planned
	8	Agia Paraskevi		E90
Ioannina	7	Metsovo	GR-6 E92	E90
	6A	Peristeri – Chrysovitsa		E90 E92
	6	Arachthos – Zagoria		E90 E92
	5A	Pamvotida		E90 E92
	5	Ioannina	GR-5 E951	E90 E92
	4A	Pedini	A5 to Arta, Agrinio	E90 E92
	4	Dodoni	GR-17	E90 E92
Thesprotia	3	Selloi – Tyria		E90 E92
	2	Neochori – Paramythia	GR-18	E90 E92
	1B	Vasilikos		E90 E92
	1A	Igoumenitsa – Ladochori		E90 E92
	1	Igoumenitsa – Lykopodi	GR-102 E55	E90 E92
		Igoumenitsa port	E90 E92 E55 ferry to Kerkyra,  Italy	western terminus of the A2

• 
  Tunnels between Kozani and Veria.
• 
  Egnatia Odos near Asprovalta.
• 
  Driskos Tunnel near Ioannina.
• 
  Egnatia Odos (A2) Metsovitikos bridge, as seen from Metsovo
• 
  Near the port of Igoumenitsa
• 
  Egnatia Odos near Ioannina, as seen from Airplane.
• 
  Exit near Kozani
• 
  Panoramic view of the tunnel of Malakasi
• 
  Egnatia Odos near Klidi.
• 
  Egnatia Odos near Nea Peramos.

In 2020, EIB and Egnatia Odos are committed to fund treatment of 7000 high risk sites in Greece.[7]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to A2 (Greece).

• The official website of EGNATIA ODOS S.A. (English version)