Aftokinitodromos 1

	Template: Infobox high-level road / Maintenance / GR-A
	Aftokinitodromos A1 in Greece
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	Nea Odos SA (PATHE)
further operator:	Aegean Motorway SA
Overall length:	550 km
of which in operation:	550 km
Periferies ( regions ):	Central Macedonia; Thessaly; Central Greece; Attica;
	Under construction; In planning;

The Aftokinitodromos 1 / Αυτοκινητόδρομος 1 ( Greek for 'Autobahn 1') is a 550 km long Greek motorway that runs from Evzoni in the north on the Macedonian border to Piraeus in the south. It runs along the east coast of mainland Greece and connects the two largest cities and metropolitan regions of Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki . The highway 1 also illustrates the northern Athens section of the road traffic axis PATHE ( acronym of P Atras, A then, Th essaloniki and E vzoni). On its entire length runs the European route E75 . The A1 is by far the most important north-south road connection in Greece and has completely replaced National Road 1 after the completion of the sections in the Tempe Valley and around the Maliakos Gulf . The section between the Klidi motorway junction near Thessaloniki and the Raches junction near Lamia is also known as Αυτοκινητόδρομος Αιγαίου (Aftokinetodromos Egeou, Aegean motorway).

course

Its course largely corresponds to the course of the old national road (Ethniki Odos) 1 (EO 1) between Athens and Evzoni, but is not identical to it. National Road 1, which was newly built in the 1960s and 1970s and partially re-routed, will be replaced by Autobahn 1. According to the sequence, the acronym PATHE is also deciphered with Piraeus-Athens-Thessaloniki-Evzoni.

The following cities and metropolitan areas are affected by the A1:

Thessaloniki - approx. 20 km to the west, connection via a former feeder, today partly A2
Katerini
Larisa
Volos - approx. 30 km to the west, connection via feeder (A12)
Lamia
Chalkida on Euboea - approx. 20 km to the west, connection via feeder (A11)
Thiva (Thebes)
Athens

The A1 and A2 (Egnatia Odos) use the same lane between the Axios triangle and the Klidi triangle west and south-west of Thessaloniki.

History and construction

Highway 1 (National Road 1) in Athens in the direction of Faliro before the exit to Piraeus (end of the highway).

National road 1 at Thermopylae in 2006 before the expansion to the motorway in 2008

The old National Road 1 has been gradually expanded since the early 1960s. In August 1962 the section from Athens to Lamia was put into operation with a total width of 14 m (one lane and one auxiliary lane or hard shoulder in each direction). As before, there was oncoming traffic on this newly opened section without separating the directions of travel. The section from Lamia to Larisa was released in the same way in 1967; in 1959, three years earlier, the section from Larisa to Katerini was released. Not least because of the necessary passage through the Tempe valley, the total width of the carriageway in this section was 13 m. 1973 in September the section Katerini-Thessaloniki was opened to traffic with a lane width of 14 m. The section of the junction (motorway junction) Axios near Chalastra to the border with what was then Yugoslavia (border crossing Evzoni-Bogorodica) was released in July 1973 and also had a lane width of 14 m. In contrast to the previous design of the road, the Axios section had two sections with separate lanes (2 × 10 m) and 2 lanes each plus small hard shoulder per lane. The first section was a short, a few kilometers long section north and south of the Gefyra cross (junction with national road 2 ), the second section ran from the Polykastro exit to the border to Evzoni. After this expansion work was completed, the then national road 1 had almost exclusively a non-separated lane with oncoming traffic and only one lane per direction (plus hard shoulder), with the exception of the passage in the Tempe Valley. The hard shoulder was missing there.

This expansion was financed through a toll. In 1959, tolls were levied at the Tempe and Leptokarya toll stations on the stretch from Larisa to Katerini. In 1962 the Athens-Lamia section was subject to tolls (Schimatari and Tragana toll stations), and in 1967 the Lamia-Larisa section was also subject to tolls (Pelasgia, Drymona, Moschochori toll stations). The Drymona toll booth quickly stopped working. It was not until 1986 that a toll was levied on the section from Katerini to Thessaloniki with the Nea Malgara toll station. The section from Axios / Thessaloniki to Evzoni on the border remained exempt from user charges. In 1992 the additional Afidnes toll booth was set up. The toll booths Agios Athanasios at the Gefyra cross and the toll booths in front of the border at Evzoni never went into operation. The toll booths, some of which are made of marble, are left to decay.

In the 1990s, a continuous expansion of the route to the European motorway standard began. The two-lane routes in the Greek regions of Macedonia , Thessaly and Central Greece were expanded to two directional lanes with at least two lanes and one hard shoulder per directional lane. In March 2006 only the following sections remain without a motorway standard: Evangelismos – Pyrgetos (Tempe Valley) with 15 km in length, Regkini – Raches (Maliakos arch, Petalo tou Maliakou ) with 77 km in length, Egani – Leptokarya with 15 km in length and Axios cross (Chalastra) –Polykastro with a length of 45 km.

According to the Greek Ministry of Public Works, a crossing of the Gulf of Malia is being discussed (near Lamia). The solution favored in the meantime was a 3–4 km long tunnel under the Gulf between Raches (north) and Mendenitsa / Schimatari (south). Alternatively (especially at the request of the Prefect of Evia ) a two-part crossing solution is being discussed, which would include the north-western tip of the Euboia peninsula as a "stopover" and would connect Euboia directly to the A1. The latter solution is not feasible due to the larger distances to be overcome when crossing due to the costs. Crossing the Gulf of Malia would on the one hand shorten the route between Thessaloniki and Athens by 20–60 km (depending on the crossing solution implemented), and on the other hand would bring the previously two-lane route to motorway standard. This is not currently the case. The decision was made to upgrade the previous route to motorway standard. On September 15, 2007, a 32 km new section between Kamena Vourla and Agios Konstandinos was opened to traffic.

Networking road

As the most important north-south connection in the Greek road network, the A1 crosses all other major road axes:

Street	Stations
A2 ( E 90 ) Egnatia Odos	Igoumenitsa - Ioannina - Grevena - Kozani - Veria - Thessaloniki - Kavala - Xanthi - Komotini - Alexandroupoli - Kipi (Turkish border)
A3 ( E 65 ) Odos Kentrikis Ellados	planned Lamia - Trikala - Kalambaka - Panagia (A2)
A6 ( E 94 ) Attiki Odos	Elefsina – Athens, North Bypass – Athens Airport
A8 PATHE	Patras - Rio - Corinth - Athens
EO 2 ( E 86 )	Niki (Macedonian border) –Florina – Edessa – Thessaloniki – then like A2
EO 3 (E 65)	Athens - Thebes - Lamia - Larisa - Tyrnavos - Elassona - Kozani - Ptolemaida - Florina - Niki (Macedonian border)
EO 6	Larissa - Trikala - Ioannina - Igoumenitsa
EO 8	Patras - Rio - Corinth - Athens
EO 38	Lamia - Karpenisi - Agrinio
EO 48	Lamia - Amfissa - Nafpaktos - Andirrio ( Rio-Andirrio Bridge )

It is Z. Partly planned or under construction to replace the above-mentioned national roads with motorways (e.g. replacement of national road 3 with the A3, A27 and A13 motorways, replacement of national road 6 with the A4).

Networking air traffic

The following airports in Greece are affected or connected by this route:

Thessaloniki (Makedonia Airport)
Nea Anchialos (Volos Airport)
Athens (Eleftherios Venizelos Airport)

Networking ship traffic

The main ports of Greece are connected by this route:

Attractions

Autogrill - panoramic restaurant

There are no sights directly on the A1. Many sights can be reached quickly thanks to the connecting roads to the A1:

Tombs of the Kings of Vergina (tomb of Philip II of Macedon)
Ancient Pella (Pella) (capital of Philip II and Alexander the Great )
Dion Archaeological Park
Olymp (highest mountain in Greece)
Tempe valley
Thermopylae
Ancient Thebes (Thessaly)
Ancient Delphi
Sights in Athens ( Acropolis , Odeon of Herodes Atticus , etc.)
Sights of Thessaloniki ( White Tower , Old City Wall , Galerius Arch , Roman Agora, etc.)

Route sections (with distances)

Connections via Autobahn 1 and its route sections have the following distances:

Distance in km	1	2	3	4th	5	6th	7th	8th	9	10	11	12	13
(1) Evzoni	-	49	63	75	110	171	208	252	354	533	550	620	750
(2) Gefyra *	49	-	12	26th	61	122	159	203	305	505	501	581	701
(3) Axios **	63	12	-	12	47	108	145	188	290	490	507	569	689
(4) Klidi	75	49	12	-	35	98	135	178	280	480	497	520	640
(5) Katerini	110	61	47	35	-	61	98	141	243	443	460	459	579
(6) Evangelismos	171	122	108	98	61	-	37	80	182	382	399	422	542
(7) Larisa	208	159	145	135	108	37	-	43	145	345	362	378	498
(8) Velestino	252	212	198	186	151	80	43	-	102	302	319	276	396
(9) Lamia	354	305	293	279	244	183	146	102	-	200	217	97	217
(10) Athens	533	484	472	458	423	362	325	282	200	-	17th	80	200
(11) Piraeus	550	501	489	475	440	379	342	299	197	17th	-	100	227
(12) Corinth	620	581	569	520	459	422	378	276	97	80	100	-	127
(13) Patras	750	701	689	675	640	579	542	498	396	217	200	127	-

Explanations:
* Gefyra corresponds to West Thessaloniki, to Thessaloniki + 16 km
** Axios corresponds to South West Thessaloniki or Chalastra, to Thessaloniki + 10 km

Web links

Site of the Autobahn . (greek / english)
Codification and numbering of the Greek motorway network (Κωδικοποίηση και Αρίθμηση Ελληνικού Διευρωπαϊκού Οδικού Δικτύου) from January 8th, 2009. Available from the General Secretariat of the Ministry of the Environment, Regional Planning and Public Buildings (on Greek Public Works Map). Last accessed: September 28, 2010 12:31 PM CEST.
Builder and operator of Egnatia Odos (Autobahn 2) . With some information on sections of Autobahn 1.
Press release of May 30, 2006 on the tender for Odos Kentrikis Elladas ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ( Microsoft Word ) YPECHODE: Greek Ministry of Public Buildings (Greek)
Greek Ministry of Public Works
Ministry of Public Works, Greece. Information brochure on large infrastructure projects ( Memento from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 2.17 MB; Greek)
Press release of January 4, 2006 on the progress of the construction of the Maliakos Arch ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) ( Microsoft Word ) YPECHODE: Greek Ministry of Public Works (Greek)
Press release of March 9, 2006 on the progress of the Maliakos Arch extension ( Memento of September 28, 2007 on the Internet Archive ) ( Microsoft Word ) YPECHODE: Greek Ministry of Public Works (Greek)
Client of the northern part of the A1
Presentation by the client about the A1 and the expansion of the Platamonas and Tempe Valley ( Memento from September 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 3.1 MB). Last accessed: March 3, 2012 1:43 am CET.

Individual evidence

^ Newspaper report in the daily Kathimerini. English online edition from September 15, 2007

[1] Newspaper report in the daily Kathimerini. English online edition from September 15, 2007