The 6 km long tunnel in the passage Tembi which was finished on Monday is of great importance for Greece in the long run and will benefit the society and the economy.
Once the tunnel is finished the cars will no longer pass through the Tembi passage where some of the most serious crashes in the country happened. This will be the longest tunnel in Greece and in the Balkans too. The cutting works began in August 2008 from two sides - south of the plane of Tembi and north at Omolio. Last Monday, after two years and nine months, the two teams met in the middle three kilometers away from one another and thus the largest tunnel for cars in Greece was opened.
Now it remains to open the third tunnel at Platamona, "which will happen soon, if the funding of the contractor company continues," said officials of Egeo S.A. But the work has slowed down from the beginning of the week, as the negotiations between the government, banks and companies continue and there is an apparent danger the project to fail for the suspension of subsidies. The negotiations are expected to be completed after a month, when it will be clear whether there will be a third tunnel in the area.
The cut tunnel has an inlet and an outlet in each direction, 14.8 m in diametre, with two traffic lanes and one emergency lane and a total route length of 10.5 metres. 400 different specialists took part in the construction works and for the most part the tunnel was cut by controlled explosions and less use of mechanical means.
The work on the project is completed on time, and more than 80 000 m3 of concrete were used for temporary support. The tunnel is not yet ready but it is expected to be finished in August. Until now, 250,000 m3 of concrete were used, which is equal to the concrete used for the construction of 1500 houses.
When the tunnel is opened, those drivers who travel from Larisa to Thessaloniki will enter the first 2 km long tunnel T1 in Evangelizmos, then they will drive along the 1.5 km long open highway to enter later the longest tunnel in the Balkans – 6 km – shortly before the village Ambelakia and will exit it at Omolio. Next, they will use a new bridge that is being built currently in Pinio and will drive another 14 km along the open highway while entering the third 3 km long tunnel T3, starting from Platamon and ending at Skotina.
Those who wish to pull to the beaches of Larissa will be able to exit the tunnel near Rapsani and at the second exit at Platamon.
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