Road over a well: on the Vari-Koropi road the asphalt suddenly fell to a depth of three meters

On one of the busiest roads in southern Attica – Vari-Koropi Avenue — at night the asphalt suddenly collapsed, opening a huge cavity about three meters deep with water under the road surface.

The incident occurred at approximately 00:30 at the beginning of Varis-Koropiou Avenue, in the area between Voula and Vouliagmeni Hill, in the direction of Vari.

According to Pronewspart of the roadway collapsed, and a huge hole formed in the middle of the roadway.

Photos and videos from the site show that under a thin layer of asphalt there was a deep underground cavity containing water. The publication describes it as old well about three meters deep.

A few hours earlier, families with children were driving here

The most alarming thing is that the collapse occurred on a busy road.

Just a few hours earlier, Varis Koropiou had seen the usual evening traffic, including cars carrying families and children.

At the moment of the collapse itself, by chance there was no car over this area.

If the road surface had collapsed while the car was passing, the consequences could have been extremely severe: the car would have actually fallen into a hole about three meters deep.

The dangerous place was marked… with flower pots

Another striking detail of the story is how drivers were initially warned of the danger.

According to Pronews, the attention of one of the motorists was attracted two flower pots displayed directly on the roadway.

The woman reported a strange obstacle to the police. When officers arrived at the scene, they discovered that someone had actually marked an area of ​​collapsed asphalt with pots.

After inspection, it became clear that this was not an ordinary pothole, but a major failure of the roadway.

The road was repaired just a few days ago

The condition of this area before the incident raises special questions.

According to Pronews, damage to the coating has already been observed here, and just a few days before the collapse, the site was being repaired by a road crew.

However, judging by the result, the road surface repair did not reveal or eliminate the problem located directly under the asphalt.

It is this circumstance that now requires a separate explanation: whether the road base was examined before repairs and whether the services were aware of the existence of an underground cavity.

Well or watercourse?

So far there is no official engineering conclusion on the nature of the discovered cavity.

Pronews calls her well and claims that water comes from it.

Moreover, the area is indeed historically connected with ground and surface waters. The name of the area itself Pygadacia (Πηγαδάκια) comes from the word “wells”.

Koropi’s historical sources describe numerous old wells in the area. Some of them were filled in over time or disappeared during the construction of the modern road network.

Therefore, before the technical conclusion appears, it is more correct to talk about old underground cavity or well with waterand not to argue that engineers deliberately built the modern avenue directly “on an open well.”

The water problem in this area has been known for a long time

There are other long-standing problems related to water drainage in this part of southern Attica.

In particular, a watercourse passes through the Krbi area, for which a separate large flood control project has been implemented for many years.

Attica region previously explicitly stated that the Krbi watercourse had repeatedly created serious problems with flooding and that part of the natural channel had been altered by urban development.

This does not mean that this particular watercourse caused the current failure. However, it shows that issues of water movement under and around road infrastructure in the area are far from new.

Thousands of cars and heavy trucks

Varis-Koropiou is one of the most important cross roads of southern Attica, connecting the coastal areas with Koropi, the airport and the eastern part of the region.

Thousands of passenger cars and a large number of heavy vehicles move along it every day.

Pronews specifically draws attention to trucks serving construction projects in Elliniko and other large construction sites in southern Attica.

However at the moment there is no engineering conclusion to say that it was the movement of freight transport that caused the destruction. It could increase the load on the damaged base, but specialists must determine the reasons.

Who is responsible for the dangerous road?

After an incident, the question of liability inevitably arises: who should have known about the condition of the road foundation, who carried out the recent repairs, and who is responsible for ensuring the safety of the area?

It is impossible to determine the responsibility only by the administrative boundary. In Greece, the maintenance of a road, depending on its category, may be the responsibility of a municipality, a region, a public service or another operator.

Just a few days ago, Athens News discussed this issue in detail in an article “Accidents due to a pothole, bad road or missing markings in Greece: who is responsible – the municipality, region or state”.

If a road defect leads to an accident or damage to a vehicle, it is extremely important for the victim to immediately record the location of the accident, the size of the defect, road signs and the absence or presence of a warning barrier.

This time tragedy was avoided

In this case, everything ended without a car at the bottom of the sinkhole and without injuries.

But the story leaves an unpleasant question: How many cars managed to drive across a few centimeters of asphalt over a three-meter void before the road completely collapsed?

And even more important – why this void was not discovered during the renovation of the site just a few days earlier.

The answer must now be given by technical services.

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