Smart traffic lights will be installed at the Agia Fylas roundabout by January 2021. As Thrasos Afamis, the District Engineer of the Public Works Department, stated to "Entrepreneurial Limassol", the bids submitted for the project are being evaluated and the whole procedure is expected to be finalised within October. It is an intelligent control system that will regulate traffic in real-time, so that no blocking conditions are created. In this way, roundabout traffic will be controlled by traffic lights at morning, noon and afternoon rush hours. More specifically, traffic lights will be placed in the north, west and east, but also inside the roundabout. When the traffic lights are off, the roundabout will function as a standard roundabout.
As stated by Transport Minister Giannis Karousos during the recent presentation of the project at the Limassol City Hall, the new arrangement is expected to reduce the traffic problem by about 57%. This is, as he stressed, a new system for Cyprus, which does not exist anywhere else. At the same time, in the budgets of the Ministry for 2021, an allocation has been included for the other motorway roundabouts of Limassol so that, if necessary, the same practice can be followed.
7 actions for traffic
Limassol Mayor Nicos Nicolaides stated that "this is probably the first time that, with political will and in a coordinated manner, solid attempts are made to solve the traffic problem of Agia Fyla". He noted that the installation of traffic lights at the roundabout is the first of a total of seven actions decided with the Minister for the region. The next actions concern Evagoras Lanitis and Andreas Papandreou streets, the northern bypass, the overpass that will connect Kostis Palamas and Elli Lampeti streets, park and ride, public transport based on the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan. The overpass is technically feasible, according to the Department of Public Works, but will result in shifting of the problem to adjacent residential areas and cannot therefore but be part of an overall planning for the wider area.
Tram and train
Meanwhile, Giannis Karousos presented at a conference of his EU counterparts, plans for the introduction of trams - among others - in Limassol and rail connections with other cities in Cyprus. Cyprus, as he pointed out, has carried out extensive studies and has future plans for the introduction of trams in dense urban areas and the railway connection of cities and the port by 2050. The cost of the projects is estimated at €1,2 billion, with 50% funding from the EU.
