Olympia Odos

National road 8a near Corinth

University of Patras with the Rio–Antirrio bridge in the background

Temple of Zeus in ancient Olympia

Olympia Odos is a toll motorway system on the Peloponnese in Greece. Starting from Eleusis in the Athens metropolitan area, the Olympia Odos motorways follow the Gulf of Corinth to the Rio–Antirrio bridge and the city of Patras, and along the Ionian Sea coastline, down to southwestern Peloponnese.

Olympia Odos consists of two highways:

• the A8 motorway (Athens – Patras), constructed in 1962–1973 as National Road 8a. During the 1990s the Elefsina - Corinth section was upgraded to motorway, while the Corinth - Patras section is currently under construction.
• the Patros–Pyrgos motorway, formerly known as Motorway 9, which passes by the namesake ancient city of Olympia. This motorway is currently in planning stages.

The 210 km (130 mi) motorway will be a toll-road linking Athens to Patras] and, in the future, to Pyrgos in the west of the Peloponnese. The Corinth - Patras section is expected to be completed by early 2017.

History

On 4 August 2008 a public-private partnership deal came into effect with the Greek state conceding construction and 30 years of maintenance of the Olympia Odos motorway to the international Olympia Odos S.A. consortium. In return for the right to collect tolls, the consortium will invest a total of €2.8 billion for construction and modernization of the highway.

The upgrade of the A8 (Elefsina–Corinth–Rio) and the southern section of the A5 (Rio–Pyrgos–Tsakona) by Olympia Odos S.A. has been described as "the largest and most challenging project currently undertaken in Greece, and one of the most complex ones in Europe.". It also includes the construction of 19 km (12 mi) of tunnels and twenty interchanges.

Subsequently, 82 km (51 mi) preexisting dual carriageway of the Patras bypass and the National Road 8a section Elefsina–Corinth) were further upgraded to full motorway standard. 120 km (75 mi) of preexisting single carriageway in the Corinth–Rio section currently are being doubled. 163 km (101 mi) of the southern A5 section (Patras–Pyrgos–Kalamata) are newly built.

The project was expected to take six years to complete, with a completion date scheduled for the end of 2014. The Greek government-debt crisis however led to considerable delays, leading to large sections still being under construction.

Olympia Odos consortium

The international consortium consists of:

• French-based motorway operator Vinci SA (29.9%)
• German-based construction company Hochtief (17%)
• Cyprus-based construction company Joannou & Paraskevaides (17%)
• Greece-based construction company GEK Terna (17%)
• Greece-based financial services company Aktor Concessions (17%)
• Greece-based company Athena S.A. (2.1%)

External links

• (English) (Greek)