BOAK works active across Crete
- Greece formally moved the Northern Road Axis of Crete into its build phase after signing the Chania–Heraklion concession in May 2025 and advancing separate BOAK sections already under construction east of Heraklion. - The main concession covers about 157 kilometers from Chania to Heraklion, with an option to extend west to Kissamos, while the full BOAK program is now estimated at roughly €2.5 billion. - BOAK has shifted from years of tendering into simultaneous execution across western, central and eastern Crete, with all three core contracts now signed. (ypodomes.com)
Crete’s long-delayed Northern Road Axis is no longer just a paper project: the Chania–Heraklion contract was signed on May 9, 2025, and other BOAK sections are already being built. (primeminister.gr) (amna.gr) The Chania–Heraklion section is the biggest piece. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said the concession covers the study, construction, operation and maintenance of the main BOAK link between Crete’s two largest cities, with an option west to Kissamos. (primeminister.gr) (amna.gr) METKA, the construction arm of Metlen, said last month that it is taking part in the concession project for the Chania–Heraklion section. ANA-MPA described that stretch, plus the extension toward Kissamos, as 187 kilometers in total. (amna.gr) BOAK is not one single contract. Ypodomes reports the full program is split into Kissamos–Chania–Heraklion–Hersonissos, Hersonissos–Neapoli, and Neapoli–Agios Nikolaos, and all three contracts have now been signed. (ypodomes.com) That matters because the east side of the island moved earlier. The Hersonissos–Neapoli public-private partnership and the Neapoli–Agios Nikolaos public works section were already under way before the western concession reached signature. (ypodomes.com 1) (ypodomes.com 2) Regional officials have presented the project as island-wide road rebuilding, not a local bypass. The Region of Crete said in February that site inspections were carried out at BOAK works in Heraklion and Rethymno as the Chania–Heraklion concession entered implementation. (crete.gov.gr) The numbers are large. Neakriti reported at the 2025 signing that the Heraklion–Chania project included 43 interchanges, 23 tunnels and 89 bridges, alongside funding for studies on the remaining stretch toward Sitia. (neakriti.gr) Ypodomes now puts the total BOAK cost at about €2.5 billion and calls it the largest active infrastructure project in Greece. That is the clearest sign of what changed: after years of appeals, tenders and approvals, Crete’s north-coast motorway is being built in pieces at the same time. (ypodomes.com) For travelers, that means road conditions can vary by section rather than across the entire island. For Crete, it means the route linking Chania, Rethymno, Heraklion and eastern towns has finally moved from promise to construction. (crete.gov.gr) (ypodomes.com)
