Sidewalk

The growing need for parking has made it legal in almost all Athens streets and where it is not allowed it is done illegally at the expense of pavements and squares.

Pedestrians apparently have no place to go in Athens. Instead of enjoying the right for carefree strolls or hurried walks, and pushing a stroller or a wheelchair, they encounter all kinds of obstacles, from shop tables, chairs, trees and cars, while balancing on broken, slippery, upturned slabs.

Residents of central Athens districts have long complained that bars and restaurants have taken over their sidewalks and the vehicles of visitors their parking spaces. As several of them told Kathimerini, the situation keeps getting worse.

Old apartments are undergoing renovations and ground-floor commercial spaces are experiencing a shift in purpose. Formerly home to small businesses like grocery stores and office, they now accommodate cafes and art spaces. Key boxes for short-term rental units festoon entrances all over the city.

The Regional Authority of Attica is implementing an important intervention to ensure the smooth circulation of vehicles and prevent traffic accidents at the points of reduced road safety on the Athens-Sounio coastal avenue.

The installation of reflective rubber wings aim to limit the entry of vehicles into the oncoming traffic, greatly reducing the rate of traffic accidents.

The signs are there, everywhere. Athens is full of foreign tourists. You see them packed into the narrow city-center streets, but also unexpectedly wandering around the suburbs, smiling from ear to ear, slaloming between the cars parked on the sidewalks. Some of Greece's most popular destinations are already packed - with foreigners. Others are getting there.

As part of the ongoing effort to upgrade public spaces in the northern port city of Thessaloniki, local authorities have begun coordinated actions to remove mopeds and motorcycles that have been abandoned on streets and sidewalks not only in the center but in all neighborhoods.

The Kadıköy Municipality has removed excessive e-scooters that were improperly parked and occupying sidewalks, which reduced the walking space and posed a hazard to pedestrian safety, and took them to the municipality warehouses.

E-scooters towed away by the municipal teams on early Jan. 17 will be returned to their owners after the penalty is issued.

Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality has initiated a project to provide parking spaces for e-scooters, with Kadıköy district being chosen as the pilot area.

Municipalities fail to clear roads and sidewalks