There is no possibility that the problem on Kifissos will be solved at some point, just as it has not been resolved anywhere in Europe. Europe is full of roads like our Kifissos Avenue. Major European cities, like Paris and Brussels have had major roads that are congested all day for 20-30 years. It is obvious that in all cities there is not enough space for everyone to travel with their vehicles, because traffic always balances out in congestion.
The solution is not found in Kifissos, but alternative measures are required. For example, to reduce traffic congestion, we need to have 3 lanes instead of 4-5, or in the case of incidents, more patrols and cranes should be available. It is worth mentioning the example of the Attiki Odos, which has 40-50 cranes constantly patrolling and solving problems immediately in case of any breakdown. However, even if 40-50 cranes are deployed, the situation will only slightly improve in case of incidents. The demand is enormous and it continues to be increased over time.
Public Transport is the solution
The only way to balance traffic congestion is to focus on people’s best mobility rather than vehicles and incentivize the use of Public Transport. Today, we have around 90 stations of metro and we need 200. We are not at zero point, but there are many areas that can be served by the metro. As Transportation Engineers have emphasized for decades, it is purely a psychological issue. We have learned to go from home to our office by car and park our vehicle at the office. This is not the case in any city in Europe, as most people commute by bus, metro, and bicycle.
Lastly, it would be a good solution if instead of having three lanes for vehicles on Kifissos Avenue, we have two lanes for vehicles and give the third lane to buses and high-occupancy vehicles, meaning vehicles with at least 2 or 3 passengers onboard. This way, many more passengers can travel much more comfortably. A simple figure is that we have up to 1.000 passengers with passenger cars per lane. If we include buses and high-occupancy vehicles, 7.000-8.000 passengers per hour per lane will be achieved.
Interview on the broadcast of Fotini Pipili on the radio station Talk Radio 989 in October 2023
