Maintenance Work on Athens-area Tollway Causes Major Gridlock on Mon.

The greater Athens-Piraeus agglomeration was in the throes of a massive traffic gridlock, even by local standards, on Monday afternoon, as the closure of several intersections leading onto the east-bound Attiki Odos tollway – the direction towards the Athens International Airport – caused repercussions throughout the capital’s thoroughfares.

A major maintenance project for one of the tollway’s tunnels, the Liossion underpass, until Sunday, Feb. 22, is expected to exacerbate already snarling traffic at peak hours in the Athens-Piraeus area, where nearly half the population of the east Mediterranean country resides.

Practically the entire eastbound side of the Attiki Odos was affected on Monday, extending from the industrial hub of Elefsina to the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport of Athens itself, due west of Athens proper.

The main north-south highway leading to and from Athens -the Athens-Lamia stretch – was affected at rush hour on Monday, as well as the main highway leading to and from Corinth to the west and from there to the Peloponnese.