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Greek National Road 1

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Greek National Road 1 is the longest highway in Greece. The highway begins at Kifissou Avenue or north of the Bay of Phaliro up to Efzoni at the border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, where it continues as the M1. Before the European routes numbers were changed, the northern part from Efzoni to GR-2 was E5N. Today, the entire road is run by E75. The motorway is tolled with the exception at the Aphidna tolls, southward only. One toll booth has been abandoned.

The part west of downtown Athens runs over the Cephisus river and Kifissou Avenue. From north of the boundary of Voiotia - Phthiotis, up to near Velestino, the toll freeway runs next to the bays and gulf which are adjacent to the Aegean. It then continues north of the Tempe Valley and up to the junction of the E90. It then shares a 25km common part with Egnatia Odos / E90 (on a west-east direction), and then, at the "Axios Interchange", continues north to Evzoni and the border of the FYR Macedonia. Its total length is approximately 553 km.

History

It used to be entirely a 2-lane highway and ended near Katerini until 1973. The section Athens - Lamia opened in August 1962 as a 14m width road. The section Lamia - Larissa opened in October 1967 as a 14m width road. The section Larissa - Katerini opened in September 1959 as a 13m width road (except the Tempi valley pass opened as 10m road). The section Katerini - Thessaloniki opened in September 1973 as a 14m width road. The section Axios junction - Evzoni (border) opened in July 1973. The section Axios junction - Polykastro opened as a 14m width road, while the section Polykastro - Evzoni (border) opened as a highway.

When it was extended to Thessaloniki and to the border with the FYR Macedonia, the highway had 4-lanes. It was extended during construction in the north in the 1980s and the south in the early and mid 1990s which began near the Afidnes toll. In 1995 the Greek National Road 1 had motorway characteristics in sections Athens - Thebes and Kleidi - Thessaloniki, while the section Thebes - Kleidi was an undivided 14 m road. In 1998, the motorway had 6-lanes up to north of Thebes, and 4 lanes from Thebes up to the Tempe Valley with a few sections at western Magnesia still having 2 lanes. Since then, the Larissa bypass has been constructed. As of 2005 it complies with all motorway standards for most of its length, except for 78 km around the Maliakos Bay and 25 km through the Tempe Valley, further to the north. Plans are underway to upgrade to motorway status at these parts with bypasses at the Maliakos Gulf part, and new tunnels at the Tempe Valley part. The 78km of the Maliakos Bay will be gradually completed from late 2007 to 2010. The tunnels at Tempe will be complete by 2012.

Interchanges

The toll motorway passes through towns and cities, which are ordered from south to north below. The exits are still unnumbered even though they are posted in some cases:



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Last updated on Wednesday February 20, 2008 at 10:53:51 PST (GMT -0800)
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