The long and troubled journey that began in 2007 finally came to an end with the inauguration held last Thursday – Kalogritsas, court battles, and abandoned construction sites turned into dumping grounds.

The new Patras–Pyrgos national highway—once on the brink of becoming a ghost project—has finally been completed and opened to the public as of yesterday afternoon, marking the end of a turbulent path for a project meant to breathe life into Western Greece.

Initially disrupted by the financial crisis and mired in political controversy during the third bailout period, the project only saw real progress between 2021 and 2022, culminating in its official inauguration last week.

From Approval to Rejection

The “Odyssey” began in 2007, when the highway was included in the concession for the Elefsina–Tsakona road axis. However, it was removed from the project in 2013. A year later, it resurfaced with plans to be completed via a single contractor.

The most critical and complex chapter unfolded in 2015, when the newly elected SYRIZA-ANEL government canceled the unified tender and opted to divide the project into eight separate contracts. Despite strong objections from the European Commission, Athens pushed ahead with the plan, even as Brussels warned that EU co-financing could not be guaranteed under such conditions.

The result: nearly two years of delays before the new tenders were even announced. By the time the SYRIZA government left office in the summer of 2019, only five of the eight contracts had been signed.

Two of the remaining contracts never advanced. The temporary contractor, Christos Kalogritsas—known for his ties to the then-government—was declared disqualified for failing to provide the required guarantee letter. The third contract became tangled in legal disputes that reached Greece’s Council of State.

Of the five signed contracts, progress was minimal. Four had advanced less than 2% of the expected work, despite a third of the contractual time having already passed. Several work sites appeared abandoned, turning into makeshift garbage dumps.

Meanwhile, the old Patras–Pyrgos highway remained one of the country’s most dangerous roads, with double-digit traffic fatalities each year between 2015 and 2018, further risking the loss of EU funds.

The Turning Point: 2019

In 2019, the Mitsotakis government intervened. According to government sources, an initial assessment revealed that—even if all five signed contracts were completed—they would only cover 23 out of the project’s total 75 kilometers. In other words, SYRIZA’s choice to split the project into eight parts would have delivered a delayed and incomplete road, with minimal improvement in safety and major losses in EU funding.

New Democracy moved to close all open fronts. Contracts were terminated, and contractors were dismissed. In March 2022, a new agreement was signed, reintegrating the project into the Olympia Odos concession. Through personal intervention by the Prime Minister, EU funding was secured from the Commission.

Roughly 40 months later, on August 1, 2025, the “Odyssey” of the Patras–Pyrgos highway came to an end. The full new alignment was opened to traffic, with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis comparing the project to the Bridge of Arta, saying, “Even the bridges of Arta get finished, eventually.”

Final Scope and Benefits

A total of 65 kilometers were completed, of which 62 kilometers are entirely new alignment. The final 10 kilometers, a section of the old national road, are being fully upgraded and are expected to be delivered by the end of November, forming part of the new highway.

The Patras–Pyrgos trip will now take only 45 minutes, while the full route from Athens to Pyrgos will take around 2 hours and 45 minutes, featuring modern safety standards, as highlighted by Infrastructure Minister Christos Dimas during the opening event.

It’s worth noting that since 2023, targeted road safety improvements had already begun on the old route, contributing significantly to accident reduction. This model has since been replicated for improvements on the Northern Road Axis of Crete (BOAK).