
The first hot weekend of June has prompted a large number of citizens from Tirana and Elbasan to head to the beaches of the west coast, specifically in the areas of Kavaja and Durrës.
The massive crowd has brought an extraordinary increase in vehicle traffic, putting road infrastructure and traffic management capacities to the test.
The traffic situation deteriorated significantly in the late afternoon hours of Sunday when citizens began returning from the beach on the coast of part of the Durrës and Kavaja areas towards Elbasan and Tirana.
The main road segments have been faced with a large influx of vehicles that has caused traffic to slow down significantly, while in some points it has been almost paralyzed for short periods of time.
The most problematic area has been identified in the Elbasan Papërr – Bradashesh Roundabout – Krraba Tunnel segment, where the influx of vehicles has created long queues and significant delays for drivers.
This segment represents a strategic node for the connection between the southeast and the capital, therefore the sensitivity to increased flows is high.
In response to the situation, traffic police have deployed additional forces on the ground to monitor, direct and discipline traffic.
However, due to the extremely large volume of vehicles, its interventions have been limited in short-term effect.
The authorities, as always in such situations, have called for increased caution on the part of drivers, as well as for following the instructions of the traffic police in real time, in order to ease traffic and avoid further congestion.
This phenomenon, repeated every summer season, highlights the necessity for long-term infrastructural solutions and improvements in traffic management during periods of high traffic flow, while only next year with the construction of the Lekaj e Kavajës - Elbasan highway, the inherited traffic problems in this region can be significantly alleviated.