The Ε65 motorway is now fully operational following the delivery of its final 46 kilometre section, running from Kalambaka to Grevena. The handover ceremony took place Thursday at the motorway’s 167th kilometre and was attended by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis alongside the political leadership of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, marking the completion of one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects.

With this last stretch now open, the Ε65, officially the Central Greece Motorway, connects the PATHE motorway (the Patras, Athens, Thessaloniki and Evzonoi route) with the Egnatia Odos, creating a modern road axis intended to strengthen transport links, regional development and road safety.

In his address at the motorway’s opening, Mitsotakis described the Ε65 as “the clearest mirror of the journey we have made,” stressing that “Greece is changing every day.”

“The Greece of stagnation, unfinished projects and empty promises belongs to the past. With a government that can say ‘we said it and we did it,’ the Ε65 is the clearest proof of that course,” the Prime Minister said.

Mitsotakis singled out the contribution of former minister Giorgos Souflias, who had first set the project’s planning in motion, while also highlighting the efforts of successive New Democracy governments to overcome the bureaucratic obstacles and financing challenges that had held up its completion.

He placed particular emphasis on the role of the Recovery and Resilience Fund, Greece’s allocation of European Union pandemic recovery money, responding directly to opposition criticism over how those funds have been managed. “When we are asked where the Recovery Fund money went, we should answer: this is where the Recovery Fund money went,” he said, adding that a project once at risk of becoming a symbol of national inadequacy now represents a Greece entering a new era.

“Where others saw dead ends, we saw opportunity,” Mitsotakis said.

Spanning a total of 182.1 kilometres with a budget of roughly 1.4 billion euros, the Ε65 links the PATHE motorway with the Egnatia Odos, forming a single road axis stretching from Central Greece and Thessaly through to Western Macedonia and Epirus. The journey from Lamia to the Egnatia Odos is now cut to around one hour and 30 minutes, while major cities in Western Macedonia save more than two hours on the drive to Athens.

The benefits extend beyond travel time. The new route brings Trikala and Karditsa closer to Athens, improves access to Meteora, Lake Plastira, the Agrafa mountains, Metsovo and Karpenisi, and strengthens the connection between the port of Igoumenitsa, Volos and the wider trans European transport network.

Watch the ceremony

The ceremony carries weight beyond a routine ribbon cutting. For years, the Ε65 was a project plagued by slow progress, delays, funding shortfalls and repeated design changes. Its completion now allows the government to hold it up as evidence that even the most difficult infrastructure projects can be finished.