A study for a four-lane motorway between Evrychou and Astromeritis has been handed over to the public works department in a bid to get the project started that is designed to ease traffic congestion in the area, reports said Thursday.
The road, which has been in the works for 50 years, will be a 12.9 km stretch of highway costing €70 million, and is expected to be completed by 2023, once it is licensed.
Another stretch of motorway from Akaki to Astromeritis is scheduled to begin as soon as the first 12.9 km is completed.
The Akaki-Astromeritis motorway is planned to stretch 19 km and finish by 2026. It will cost approximately €130 million in total including a roundabout.
The government has been pushing for this plan as 41,000 cars are estimated to travel on the road every day. They believe it will increase safety on the roads in the rural Nicosia area and better connect the villages of that area to the capital.
The motorway is planned as an extension of the Nicosia-Kokkinotrimithia-Astromeritis road. A roundabout is in the plans for the end of the motorway close to Evrychou.
In the environmental studies, part of the road is planned to cut through a protected Natura 2000 area in ‘Atsa- Ayios Theodoros’.
However, since the political decision for the road’s construction was made, the government is planning to promote it as a public interest project to better the quality of life, despite cutting through the Natura area.
A public works letter in 2019 said there was no need to examine alternative scenarios, as the decision for the motorway’s construction has been made.
Source: Four-lane motorway between Evrychou and Astromeritis by 2023 | Cyprus Mail