Highways in Greece

All Greek highways will be toll-free on Sunday for private vehicles and motorcyclists, making it easier to get to and from polling places.

From midnight Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday, there will be no tolls.

The Hellenic Railways Organization's operating arm Trainose is to boost services on the Athens-Thessaloniki route between Thursday and Tuesday, May 28, in a bid to help those traveling to their constituencies to vote in Sunday's local authority and European Parliament elections.

Gale-force winds, strong downpours and hail caused problems in different parts of Greece on Thursday night and into Friday, as the bad weather continued.

A motorway linking the cities of Pyrgos and Patras in the northwestern Peloponnese will be funded with 293 million euros from the EU's Cohesion Fund, after the project received the green light from the European Commission on Wednesday.

Located on the Trans-European Transport network (TEN-T), the new road will ensure faster and safer travel, the Commission said in a press release

Egnatia Odos, the highway running from Greece's northwest to northeast, cost more than any other national road project to develop yet remains the most affordable of the country's highway stretches for motorists, according to data provided at a recent conference by Giorgos Dedes, general secretary for infrastructure.

Traffic will be diverted at the Selianitika junction of the Corinth-Patra highway in the northern Peloponnese from Saturday through Wednesday.

Motorists will be directed onto the old national highway as that section of the Olympia Odos highway is being repaved.

A video of a horrific accident on the Athens-Lamia national highway on Sunday, which left four people dead, has gone viral, exposing the dangerous problem of speeding on Greek roads.

The video showed a Porsche, driven by Giorgos Vakakis, the son of Jumbo toy store owner Apostolos Vakakis, plowing into a parked car and roadside restroom, causing an explosion.

A tunnel on the new Corinth-Patra road, which is still under construction. Reports Wednesday indicated that the new road will be open to vehicles by the end of March 2017 and is part of a 201.5-kilometer highway that will connect Elefsina, northwest of Athens, with Patra in western Greece. [Olympia Odos/ANA-MPA]

Motorists driving in Athens on Friday should bear in mind that many roads around the capital will be closed to traffic as schools hold their annual Ochi Day parades, commemorating Greece's entry into the Second World War in 1940.

Drivers coming from Athens International Airport and wishing to get onto the national highway from the Attiki Odos on Sunday will not be able to take the Lamia exit, which will be closed due to roadworks, authorities announced Friday.

A diversion will be in place for northbound drivers.