Greece's motorway network has been extensively modernized throughout the 2000s and part of it is still under construction. Most of it was completed by early 2017. There are a total of 10 main routes throughout the Greek mainland and Crete, from which some feature numerous branches/auxiliary routes, as described in the listing below.
Greek motorways according to ministerial decree of 2015 A1 (Athens - Thessaloniki - Evzonoi) The
A1 motorway, also known as the
Aegean Motorway, is the oldest and most important motorway of
Greece, connecting the country's largest cities,
Athens and
Thessaloniki and passing through many important regions of Greece on a south-north direction. Section Chalastra -
Evzonoi was constructed earlier as an expressway, with no upgrade planned. The full length of this motorway is around 553 km or 346 miles, including 14 km or 8.7 miles of shared route with the
A2 (Egnatia Odos). Note that until recently, the "P" in "PAThE" referred to
Patras, but the Patra – Athens section has now become part of the
A8 (Olympia Odos), belonging to a different project. • The
A11 motorway is a branch of the
A1, connecting it with the city of
Chalcis. • The
A12 motorway is a planned branch of the
A1, connecting it with the city of
Volos. Upgrade of the pre-existing section is under way. • The
A13 motorway is a now cancelled branch of the
A1, from
Thiva to
Elefsina; connecting it with the
A6 (Attiki Odos) and serving as a western bypass of Athens Metropolitan Area.
A2 (Egnatia Odos) and
Veria. The
A2 motorway, also called
Egnatia Odos (Egnatia Motorway), is a motorway situated in northern Greece, connecting several major cities on the way. It starts at the port of
Igoumenitsa and ends at
Kipoi border crossing with Turkey. 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. Specifically, there are auxiliary routes to
Albania and
Bulgaria, with the main route leading to
Turkey.
North Macedonia is accessed through the
A1 (AThE), as described above, or via the
A27 (see below). Another auxiliary route runs close to the
Evros river in the prefecture of the same name, reaching a point where Greece's, Turkey's and Bulgaria's borders meet. Some of those auxiliary routes are not yet motorways, but typical 2-lane expressways, although they are of considerably higher quality than other similar expressways in the rest of Greece. The project (including most of the auxiliary routes), was completed in 2009, with the length of the main route being 670 kilometers or 416 miles, making it the longest motorway in
Greece. • The
A24 motorway is a branch of the
A2, referred to as the
Thessaloniki – Nea Moudania Motorway or
Chalkidiki Motorway, connecting
Thessaloniki to
Nea Moudania on the
Chalkidiki peninsula. As it passes through the eastern periphery of
Thessaloniki the A24 becomes part of the
Thessaloniki Inner Ring Road (
Esoteriki Peripheriaki Odos, ). • The
A25 motorway is a branch of the
A2 and lies between
Thessaloniki to the Greek–Bulgarian border crossing, via
Serres (taking over parts of the
EO12). • The
A27 motorway is a partially complete motorway that branches off the
A2 north of
Kozani, before heading towards
Ptolemaida,
Florina and the border crossing with North Macedonia at
Niki. During 2012, tenders were announced for the construction of the 14 kilometers section from
Florina up to the border crossing with North Macedonia. Construction of this section started in 2013, finished in 2015 and it was opened to traffic on 20 May 2016. The
Ptolemaida -
Florina part is currently an expressway, planned to be upgraded to a motorway. • The
A29 motorway branches off the
A2 near
Siatista, and serves the city of
Kastoria and the Greek–
Albanian border crossing at Krystallopigi.
A3 (Central Greece Motorway) The
A3 motorway, or the
Central Greece Motorway (usually referred to as just
E65) is currently under construction. It will link the
A1 (AThE) near
Lamia with the
A2 (Egnatia Odos) near
Grevena, and carry the
European route E65. Its total length will be .
A5 (Ionia Odos) The
A5 motorway, also referred to as the
Ionia Odos (Ionian Motorway), is a fully operational motorway since 3 August 2017 when its last section under construction was delivered to traffic. It starts from
Ioannina at the
A2 (Egnatia Odos) interchange, and ends at
Rio, in
Patras, after crossing the
Corinthian Gulf through the
Rio-Antirrio bridge. There, it connects to the
A8 (see below). The northern extension to the
Kakavia border (with Albania) is in the planning stages. The route passes through most of western continental Greece, along the
Ionian Sea, hence its name "Ionia Odos". Work on the majority of the highway began in spring 2006 and would span six years, to be completed by 2012. Though, because of economic problems of the constructing companies, all construction works were halted in 2011, but since mid-2013 works on the whole of the 196 km motorway started again. The
Antirrion -
Ioannina section was completed in August 2017. and 2022 respectively. The final section from Loutraki to
Vonitsa was completed and opened to traffic in 2024.
A6 (Attiki Odos) The
A6 motorway, or
Attiki Odos, forms part of the urban motorway network of
Athens's metropolitan area. Its full length is and it is also planned to be extended to various directions, bringing its total length to . The
Attiki Odos has various auxiliary routes, namely the Aigaleo Ring Road (
A65) and the Hymettus Ring Road (
A62), serving parts of western and eastern Athens respectively; while the 6 km (4 mi) section leading from the main route to the
Athens International Airport is numbered as the A64. • The
A62 motorway is a section of the
Attiki Odos which branches off the main A6 route. It is referred to as the Hymettus Beltway (A62) (
Greek: Περιφερειακή Υμηττού), serving parts of eastern Athens, while it is also expected to be extended further southwards to
Elliniko and further eastwards towards
Rafina. • The
A64 motorway is a section of the
Attiki Odos which branches off at the end of the main A6 route. It basically serves as a corridor from
Attiki Odos and
Koropi towards the
Athens International Airport. • The
A65 motorway is a second auxiliary route that branches off the main A6 route. The A64 section of the
Attiki Odos is referred to as the Aigaleo Ring Road (A65) (
Greek: Περιφερειακή Αιγάλεω) and serves parts of western Athens. A small part of the A65, the
Skaramagas interchange, remains unfinished, with completion expected by 2028. • The
A621 motorway is a small branch of
Attiki Odos which connects
Attiki Odos with the
Hymettus Ring Road. It serves as a small detour of the main route and its length is .
A7 (Moreas Motorway) (A7). The
A7 motorway starts from
Corinth, at the interchange with the
A8 motorway and continues to
Kalamata, passing through
Tripoli. It replaced the old
EO7 as the main road, with the section between Corinth and Tripoli, constructed between 1984 and 1990 and officially becoming part of the Greek road network in 1992. The A7 has recently undergone extensive improvement to full motorway standards. As of December 2012, the motorway section between Corinth and Kalamata is fully constructed and operational. Its total length is 205 kilometers or 127 miles. The system would be double; Passenger vehicles' license plates would automatically be captured and identified by traffic cameras upon their entrance and exit from the tolled motorway network with the use of ANPR technology, while professional and heavy vehicles would all carry transponders which would monitor and record their position using satellites (
GNSS technology). 5 contenders participated in the tender, namely Aκtor SA –
Intrakat –
Intrasoft Int’l SA-
Autostrade Tech S.p.A.,
Mytilineos – Nusz,
Terna –
Vinci –
Kapsch TrafficCom,
OTE –
T-Systems International GmbH and
STRABAG – SkyToll. In May 2019, the second phase of the tender was completed and two consortiums passed, Aκtor SA –
Intrakat –
Intrasoft Int’l SA-
Autostrade Tech S.p.A. and
Mytilineos – Nusz. Finally, a week before the
legislative election of July 2019, the then
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Networks Christos Spirtzis appointed concessionaire the consortium of Aκtor SA –
Intrakat –
Intrasoft Int’l SA-
Autostrade Tech S.p.A., after evaluation of the financial offers.
Cancellation of the first tender Although the tender for the new system had been strongly disputed by the contestants themselves, the then Minister Ch. Spirtzis of
Syriza decided to proceed with it. The concerns regarded the subject of the tender itself, as such a wide implementation does not exist in any developed country, as well as the absence of an agreement for the implementation of such a system. Moreover, existing concession agreements with the private companies managing most of the Greek motorways would have to be amended. In the autumn of 2019, the tender for the electronic toll system was cancelled by the
Council of State following the discovery of several deficiencies and an appeal by the Mytilineos – Nusz consortium, second bidder of the tender, and other participants regarding the bid evaluation procedure, noting that its bid was not preferred although it was lower by €70 million. In October 2019, it was agreed that the remaining two concessionaires (Nea Odos SA and Kentriki Odos SA), as well as the currently state-owned Egnatia Odos SA, would join the GRITS network. Drivers will therefore be able to travel and pay tolls electronically using a single transponder across the entire Greek motorway network. In the autumn of 2019 technical discussions began between all the companies, testing of the system began in the summer of 2020 and it is expected to become operational in the autumn of 2020. ==National roads==