Greeks return after Easter

A “great pandemonium” is expected: the townspeople who left for the villages to celebrate Easter outside the metropolis will return home today (April 17). Traffic peaks in the afternoon and evening.

In particular, according to the TV channel OPEN, some “Easter sightseers” left early in the morning in their cars from the countryside to avoid traffic jams. Nevertheless, from 13:00 on Easter Monday, traffic jams are already beginning on the central roads of the country. Judging by the available data, only some citizens, realizing the scale of the problem, decided to return tomorrow, April 18.

According to the same information, on the eve of Easter (April 13, 14, 15), about 170,000 cars with 2-3 passengers crossed the Eleusis toll road point (διόδια της Ελευσίνας), heading towards Corinth. It is estimated that during this three-day period alone, 300,000 vehicles left Attica.

If you take into account other transport used by travelers, ferries and intercity buses, at Easter left the metropolis from 1.5 to 2 million Athenians. The number of trips this year increased by 5% compared to 2022 and by 10% compared to 2019.

In an interview with journalists of the OPEN channel, Olympia Road transport specialist G. Handanos stressed that the return of the main number of citizens is expected this afternoon.

The road section from Corinth to Eleusis will be particularly problematic in terms of traffic jams, as will the Olympia Odos (Corinth-Patras) section.

In order not to indiscriminately accuse compatriots of the “herd reflex” (everyone leaves and arrives, as if on cue, on the same dates), the inspector noted that this phenomenon with kilometer-long queues created by motorists returning to the city is “not Greek. takes place in many European cities during the holidays. Situation a year ago:

The 170,000 cars that left Athens through the Eleusis toll gate over a three-day period, from Thursday to Saturday 13/04-15/04, is a very large number, reminiscent of pre-coronavirus times, Mr Handanos stressed, adding that despite on this, there were no particular problems, since the movement continued “at the usual pace for holidays.”

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