Roadwork designed to improve one of the busiest stretches of highway in Greece, between Corinth and Patras, will not lead to extra lanes or tollbooths being built, it emerged yesterday.

Public Works Minister Giorgos Souflias signed a deal with the Olympia Odos construction company for a project that will see some 280 kilometers of new highway built and another 80 kilometers upgraded to provide better road access between Athens and the western and northern Peloponnese.

However, transport experts are concerned that there are no plans to make any stretch of the road three lanes wide.

They point out that this means that while the roadwork is taking place, only one lane in each direction will be open to the up to 40,000 cars a day that use the highway. The project is expected to take up to three-and-a-half years.