Monday 23.12.2024 ΚΕΡΚΥΡΑ

Let there (not) be light! - Eth.Palaiokastritsas Rd

traffic lights
25 Jul 2018 / 13:50

CORFU. A drive along Eth. Palaiokastritsas Rd. can reveal a lot of the ΄peculiarities΄ of this busy road.

What stand out, of course, are the traffic lights, road signs and street lights. Setting off from the port entrance one can immediately see the traffic lights that have been bent by the wind.



Coming to the Alykes junction one can see a road sign that has been bent for several months following a road accident before joing Eth. Palaiokastritsas Rd - a national road with a 70kph speed limit.



At the Agia Ekaterina junction the traffic lights have been out of operation for who knows how long.



It seems that efforts are being made to repair them but this is a danger spot even when the lights are working and there have been several accidents here. Driving on there are another two junctions where the traffic lights have only recently come back into operation - at the hospital...



...and at Diellas.



When we reach Tzavros we see a sign telling us that the traffic lights aren't working.



It should be noted that the sign on the side of the road leading out of town is in English whereas the sign on the side of the road leading into town is in Greek.



Lack of street lighting

At night there are additional problems - the lack of street lighting. It is more accurate to describe the section between Diellas and Gouvia junction as being dark with a few lights than the opposite. There is then another dark section in front of Paramythoupoli before we get to Sotiriotissa, which has better lighting. The next dark spot is at Agia Ekaterina junction.



We then drive along a half-lit road until the junction at Alykes, where we turn onto the road at Emporiko Kentro, which is approximately three-quarters dark.



There are one or two lights to break the darkness but it isn't until we get to Mantouki junction and the New Port that we get full lighting.

Finally, we need to mention that the stretch of road between the archbishopric and the Polykliniki - near the centre of town and just before Solari - is completely dark and is lit only by the shops.



This is extremely dangerous as there are a lot of pedestrians trying to cross the road and they are only spotted by drivers at the last moment.

 See more photos here.