Panagopoula Tunnel

Road tunnel in Greece
38°19′05.3″N 21°58′17.4″E / 38.318139°N 21.971500°E / 38.318139; 21.971500StatusOperationalRouteOperationWork begun2008OpenedFebruary 2017OperatorOlympia Odos S.A.TrafficautomotiveCharacterTwin-tube motorway tunnelTechnicalLength548 m (1,798 ft) + 581 m (1,906 ft) + 4,033 m (13,232 ft) (to Athens)
3,179 m (10,430 ft) (to Patras)No. of lanes2x2

The Panagopoula Tunnel (Greek: Σήραγγα Παναγοπούλας)[1] is a tunnel on the Corinth-Patras section of the A8 motorway. The name comes from the namesake area of Panagopoula. It consists of two separate sections, one which has a length of 4,018 m (Panagopoula 1)[2] used by vehicles travelling from Patras to Athens, and one which has a length of 3,182 m (Panagopoula 2) used by vehicles travelling from the opposite direction, from Athens to Patras. Works began in 2008 along with the whole motorway, but they were halted in 2011. They were again resumed in early 2014.[3]

The 4 km tunnel is the longest road tunnel of the whole A8 and the third longest in Greece[4] It was opened to traffic in late February 2017, a month earlier than the rest of the motorway.[5][6]

References

  1. ^ Video of the Panagopoula tunnels from the Official Youtube channel of Olympia Odos
  2. ^ Road tunnels in Greece longer than 500 m
  3. ^ "Athens Travel Guide". Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Greece's 10 longest road tunnels, article in ypodomes.com construction news website". Archived from the original on 2018-07-11. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
  5. ^ "Ολυμπία Οδός: Παραδίδεται το τμήμα μέχρι Ξυλόκαστρο και οι Σήραγγες Παναγοπούλας - ypodomes.com". Archived from the original on 2017-02-20.
  6. ^ Panagopoula tunnels, article in Olympia Odos news magazine, Vol. 8, April 2015 (pdf file in Greek)