The ghostly tunnels of Athens leading to nowhere

The image of two ghostly tunnels near Lake Kumunduru in the Skaramangas region looks depressingly at the passing traffic.

Next to the Sacred Way (Iera odos) and about 400 meters from the lake there are two unfinished tunnels that appear to have been left to their own devices. These are the so-called ghost tunnels, the construction of which was started in the context of the creation of the Scaramaga intersection/road junction, i.e. connections of the peripheral road of Egaleo with Iera odos. Which, as a result of the completion of construction, would significantly help improve traffic flow in this place and lead to partial relief of the territory.

The story began in 1997 with a tender for the project, which was planned to be completed in 2001. However, the matter hit a wall: the contractor demanded a change to the contract, proposing to build a double tunnel (which was not included in the original tender).

Although the construction of the tunnels increased the cost of the project, the Ministry of Environment gave the go-ahead to change the original design and build. And while the project was moving forward, and the purchase of land plots that were owned by residents of the area began, it became obvious that the costs had already far exceeded the original estimates, and in addition, a new obstacle arose.

One of the houses with a land plot subject to redemption belonged to a resident who did not have title documents for this property. In addition to that an old woman who was promised compensation for her ruined house in the amount of 440,000 euros (for the house and 1.5 hectares of land) that she had in the area, appealed to the Council of State because she did not want to leave her “home” and stated publicly that “he wants to die on his own land!”. As a result, the court sided with her.

As a result work has practically stoppedand the contractor meanwhile asked for more money to complete the project due to shortcomings in the first study and proposed changes.

However, the problems did not end there, as constant modifications and depletion of funds ensued, among other things. According to the relevant document, the tech company officially stopped work on the interchange and tunnels in mid-February 2003, at a cost of almost €22 million. In 2011, the interchange construction project was returned to. A new study of the surrounding area was commissioned by the Attica region.

Alas, tunnels were again excluded from the project, which involved the construction of a triple junction that would have connected the western region of Aegaleo with Athens and Piraeus, and would have cost more than 50,000,000 euros.

This project was included in community funding in November 2012, and… it was not included in September 2013, and four years later, in 2017, Scaramanga Crossing was included in the Attica region's ongoing projects program only to “stumble” to the natural gas pipeline, which “runs” parallel to the Schistos highway.

Once again, several years ago, the project was recognized as a national project and included in the planning of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport. Today, the competition for the Skaramangas triple junction, which concerns the completion of the western regional Egaleo, is at an advanced stage. The environmental study has been approved and one of the prerequisites is inclusion in the operational program ΕΣΠΑ 2021-2027.

(Apparently the old woman, as she wished, “died on her land,” and the heirs thought the jackpot of 400 thousand euros or even more was a tasty morsel, and they happily signed all the documents – approx. author).

Everyone understands that the Scaramanga interchange is an amazing project for Western Attica. During its construction, the National Road will be directly connected to the Schistos Highway. At the same time, the open ghost tunnels, which, as can be seen, have been “overgrown with garbage” over all these years, will be tidied up, improved and eventually opened to vehicular traffic.

Source link