Nobody likes sitting in traffic, but drivers in central Greece are taking extreme measures to make their journeys as short as possible. Residents of the city of Larissa and its surrounding farming communities are using the bridge that collapsed about three years ago because it is shorter than the posted detour.
As reported by local media outlets larisanet (via carscoops), the story begins with Hurricane Daniel, which devastated Greece, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Libya in September 2023, causing thousands of casualties and destroying much infrastructure. In Thessaly – the north-central Greek administrative region of which Larissa is the capital – 79 bridges were destroyed. One of them was the Paleopyrgos Bridge over the Pineios River.
But apparently the bridge was not destroyed enough to stop impatient drivers. We are not talking about complete collapse here, where there is nothing left except expansion. Instead, the bridge buckled like a paper plate at a backyard barbecue, the middle section plunging to within inches of the water but not actually collapsing. Nor did it separate from the sections on either side. So it is still possible to cross it without testing the water-fording capability of the car.
What should you do when you want to start your career Thanks
That’s exactly what local residents are doing. Drone footage posted by larisanet A Ford Ranger is shown going down into a depression and coming back out on the other side as if it were on a manufacturer’s test track. The driver is not worried that this bridge, which has been hanging without support for almost three years, can fall into the river at any time.
The risk is encouraged because, according to local news coverage, the only other way to cross the river is a slow detour towards the national highway. Farmers don’t want to waste time and fuel by taking the safe route, and local officials aren’t really doing anything to discourage them. Traffic is officially prohibited from the collapsed bridge, but it is not physically blocked by barriers or police. Navigation systems reportedly direct drivers to the bridge.
Even if there is no funding to replace the bridge, one would think that the local government would do more to prevent drivers from continuing to use it as an informal river crossing. Hopefully the video footage circulating on the internet will prompt authorities to take action before a rescue operation is needed.
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