City streets filling up again as traffic center breaks down

Greek motorists spend a total of 39 hours a year stuck in traffic, second only to Britain, where the congestion in London is legendary, a recent study by the European Commission has shown.

The report’s findings back evidence that the streets of Athens are starting to return to pre-crisis levels in terms of traffic jams, with experts putting the increasing use of cars in the capital down to the disintegration of the public transport system due to budget cuts and strikes.

However, traffic experts also blame the growing traffic problems on the breakdown of the Traffic Management Center. They say that its system of electronic notice boards informing commuters of congestion, roadworks or other obstacles has been largely out of order since March 2015, meaning that drivers are not aware of holdups until they’re stuck in traffic.

Problems in the center’s operation also mean that there are no reliable data concerning traffic patterns in Athens or nationwide.