- The bridge buckled years ago and has never been repaired.
When you’re driving somewhere, most people are ready to take a shortcut. Even if the road has a few potholes, most drivers will take it despite its condition.
But in rural Greece, motorists are braving one heck of a road to cut time out of their commute.
Some years ago, a strong storm knocked a certain bridge out of commission. In the aftermath, structural damage caused the bridge to sag in the middle, nearly plunging into the river below.
The bridge remains in its devastated state to this day. Lack of available funds has halted repair efforts, and the bridge is officially closed.
You wouldn’t think that if you saw the traffic going over the bridge, though. Locals are still using the bridge, slowly inching their way across the collapsed bridge.
They do it because the detour to the next bridge over is just so inconveniently long. It would add a whopping 20 minutes to the drive.
Daniel’s Victim
In 2023, Storm Daniel blew across the Mediterranean. The devastating storm brought with it torrential rain and high winds, leading to widespread flooding, destroyed infrastructure, and thousands of deaths.
Most of the damage and fatalities occurred on the African side of the sea. Greece, however, wasn’t spared, with 17 people losing their lives and the cost of damages counted in the billions.
Due to the heavy flooding, rivers swept away or heavily damaged dozens of bridges. The Pineios River on Greece’s east-central coast was among those that swelled to unprecedented levels.
As the waters rushed to the Mediterranean, they wrecked the Palaioprygos Bridge, located just south of its eponymous town. The flood essentially snapped the bridge in three.
The deluge broke the bridge in two places – but not completely. Its middle section slumped down so far that it’s inches from the surface (of a calm Pineios).
And that’s the way the bridge has remained since. Although much of Daniel’s damage has been repaired, the notoriously money-strapped Greek government simply hasn’t been able to afford to fix everything.
The Palaioprygos Bridge is among the infrastructure that didn’t get repaired. For the past three years, the bridge has been officially closed to traffic.
Traffic Goes On
Yet, people keep using the bridge. News recently broke in Greece about cars still traversing the sagging bridge.
Local news outlet LarissaNet, while filming the remaining devastation of Daniel with a drone, noticed something strange. A Ford pickup truck was slowly crawling over the bridge, taking care not to disturb the precarious structure too much.
The Ford’s driver wasn’t the only brave soul. Many others, most in vehicles capable of tackling rugged terrain, also used the nearly destroyed bridge.
Why are the locals endangering their lives crossing the wreck? Is there really no other way to get over the Pineios River?
Of course, there is. A detour sends drivers west, where they can cross using a sturdy, newly built bridge.
Many locals, however, have found the detour to be just too inconvenient to bother with every day. So, they keep crossing the old, damaged bridge, hoping it won’t give out underneath them.
Then there are those drivers who aren’t locals and arrive at the bridge by accident. Despite it being closed, some GPS devices still lead drivers to it.
According to reports, there are “NO ENTRY” signs on both sides of the bridge. However, they’re obviously either not clearly visible or too easy to ignore.
As the news story went viral, the public has started demanding the government install physical barriers to prevent traffic over the bridge. That has surely ticked off the locals, who would be forced to take the detour.
And how long of a detour would that be, you ask? About five miles one way, adding a whopping 20 minutes to the trip across the bridge, according to Google Maps directions.
Is saving 20 minutes really worth risking your life?