TIRANA, Sept. 13 – Local government authorities in Durres, the country’s second largest city just 30 km from Tirana, are mulling over the construction of a 1.2 km downtown tunnel, that could cost more than €15 million, in a bid to ease traffic in the city’s most popular areas.
The Durres municipality has held a 12.5 million lek (€90,000) tender for the design of a tunnel starting at the city’s Nations’ Martyrs museum to the Currila beach along a coastal promenade close to the headquarters of the Durres University.
The new project comes after traffic to Durres has already been eased with the construction of a new parallel road in the Durres Port facilities, making entry to Durres much easier.
Durres Mayor Vangjush Dako says the municipality will decide on the project’s implementation only after the design project is finished and if it secures enough funding from the Albanian government or foreign donors.
“The tunnel will create a kind of new mini ring road for the city considering traffic issues. We first want the project done and then look for funding opportunities with the Albanian government, the European Union or foreign donors,” Dako has said.
The Durres Mayor, now in his third consecutive term in office, says the project’s implementation will be rather difficult considering the clay formations in the tunnel’s projected trajectory.
“It’s a clay area which makes the construction of the tunnel difficult. The project will cost at least Euro 15 million,” Dako has said.
While the tunnel project could be another attraction in tourism-reliant Durres, its high cost and settling the traffic issue only in the peak tourist season in July and August could force the authorities to abandon the project.
Durres, which has had its city centre renovated, continues facing flash flooding problems in only few minutes of heavy rains, while access to running water is limited even in tourist areas.
The new bigger municipality of Durres following the 2015 administrative reform has a resident population of 175,000 people and includes five former coastal municipalities and communes.
The city’s population more than doubles in summer with dozens of thousands of local and foreign holidaymakers.
Visiting Durres has now become more attractive to tourists with the reopening of the newly restored archaeological museum and the reconstruction of the city’s central square.
Founded in the 7th century BC under the name Epidamnos, Durres has been continuously inhabited for 27 centuries and is one of the oldest cities in Albania. The city boasts a Roman amphitheater of the 2nd century A.D, one of the largest in the Balkan.
