We have heard many times from even the most formal lips that our road network is complete and what is needed is not new roads, which will add vehicles to the cities, but quality public transport that will “force” the citizens to use them. removing vehicles from congested roads. Nevertheless, it seems that there is still a need to expand the main road network in our country. For example, the connection with roads of primary importance of the west with eastern Nicosia, designs that have remained on paper for decades.
Strovolou-Archangelou
Yesterday, after an agreement reached between the Municipality of Strovolos with the Department. Of Public Works and the Tm. After years of discussions and disagreements, the Master Plan for such a road network connecting East and West was published. It is a four-lane road, two in each direction, which will start from Strovolos Avenue (just opposite the Department of Public Works, next to the Ministry of Defense) and will end at the traffic lights of the avenue. Archangelou (despite the K-Cineplex). The Tm. Urban Planning believes in the immediate implementation of the project, as it will directly connect the two important highways and will remove significant traffic from the secondary road network. On the basis of the calculations of Tm. Public Works, it is expected that this road will receive a significant volume of traffic which is estimated that in the first years of its operation will reach 22 thousand cars per day with an upward trend.
And a new bridge
In addition to the importance mentioned above, two other primary objectives of this design, supplemented by the construction of a new bridge that will replace the one on Alexandroupolis Street that floods every time the torrent comes down, is on the one hand to overcome its problem. closing of the bridge, which every time disrupts the traffic and bothers the citizens and on the other hand to restrict the passage of vehicles from the residential areas of Strovolos and from the old core, something that will create the conditions for the plans for the reconstruction and the protection of the old Strovolos. Part of the existing problematic bridge and part of Alexandroupolis Street will be demolished.
Second bridge
A second bridge will be built over Pediaios that will serve the needs of the new road that will start from Strovolos, will pass through Eleonon and will end at Archangelou. It is believed that the bridges will greatly assist vehicle traffic in the wider area as, due to the riverbed, access points from one side to the other are minimal.
Other benefits of the project are that it will offer the citizen alternative options for handling and using more environmentally friendly means such as bicycles, as the road will have a bicycle path along its entire length, which will be connected to other bicycle path networks, existing and future, such as the bike path along Pediaio, but also Archangelos.
Decongestion
The Department of Urban Planning considers that the biggest benefit from the construction of the project -both phases- is the decongestion of the residential areas and the roads in the adjacent neighborhoods of Strovolos and especially in the old core, as due to its absence the drivers use these roads for their transition to the city center and vice versa. As he explains in a note, the old core is particularly burdened by the traffic of cars, as the users of the road network, due to the absence of this road, use for traffic the existing narrow and insufficient roads within the core, thus creating serious problem of traffic congestion, nuisance and deterioration of the quality of life of residents.
The residents of Evzonon Street, which connects Strovolos Avenue with Eleonon, are also suffering particularly. It is a neighborhood road of the secondary road network that according to estimates receives 9,000 vehicles daily. In addition to the nuisance of residential areas and the inconvenience of drivers, the Department of Urban Planning is convinced that the new road network will increase the levels of road safety in the wider area of the project. The proposed road will also be helpful in promoting buses, as it connects important areas and uses. It will also be possible for future use of the two lanes by the buses if this is evaluated positively.
Strovolos is positive
The project will be done in phases. First the bridge and the road network around it, and then the new road. Speaking to “P”, the mayor Andreas Papacharalambous stated that in the first phase, the Master Plan of the new four-lane road will be presented to the citizens, in the context of a public consultation on February 17. “Beyond that, our goal is for the city council to make a decision on February 25.” As he informed us, the predisposition of the municipal council is positive, after all, the construction of the bridge over Alexandroupolis burns the Municipality of Strovolos and is a matter of priority. “From there on, the construction plans will be made and then we will come out with offers. “We hope that in a year from today the project will start and this will be our effort and we will put pressure on this purpose”, the mayor noted. According to Mr. Papacharalambous, both phases of the project are important. The bridge for the image of Strovolos and the new road to channel the thousands of vehicles that today pass through Makedonitissis and end at the K-Cineplex outside the core of the old Strovolos.
12 million
The cost of the project is estimated at 12 million euros. Its construction will require cutting down trees, including olives, eucalyptus, etc., which will either be transplanted elsewhere or replaced with other trees.
