VINCI Concessions celebrates the Rio-Antirrio bridge's 20th anniversary and honors French-Greek friendship with the Paris 2024 Olympic torch relay
- The Rio-Antirrio bridge has carried more than 77 million vehicles since 2004.
- VINCI Concessions announced ambitious new plans for the Rio-Antirrio bridge including a new IT system, next-level environmental commitments and artificial intelligence capabilities.
- The Paris 2024 torch relay, which overlapped with the bridge’s 20th anniversary celebrations, shone a spotlight on French-Greek friendship.
VINCI Concessions, a global leader in mobility infrastructure and Greece’s leading international motorway operator with a 540 km network through its subsidiary VINCI Highways, commemorated the bridge’s 20th anniversary while hosting the Olympic torch relay.
The bridge was designed, financed and built, and is now operated, under a concession agreement between the Greek state, VINCI Concessions and its partners. It opened to traffic in 2004, in preparation for the Athens Olympic Games – the first time it hosted the Olympic torch relay.
In the 20 years since then, the bridge has carried more than 77 million vehicles. It provides the first direct link between Greece’s mainland and the Peloponnese peninsula operating 24/7.
The bridge’s operational performance is also exemplary from an environmental standpoint: it has notably achieved a 78% reduction in direct carbon emissions since 2018 through VINCI Concessions’ environmental action plan, which includes an EV Green Pass providing a 30% discount for electric vehicles.
VINCI Concessions today also unveiled its new plans and aims to further upgrade the bridge’s environmental performance and digital capabilities in coming years:
- Net zero emissions by 2050 and zero waste to landfill by 2030
- A new IT System to modernise the operations centre
- Artificial intelligence capabilities to increase efficiency
The anniversary celebrations overlapped with a tribute to friendship between France and Greece including the Paris 2024 Olympic torch relay on its way to France.
Guests included VINCI Concessions CEO, Nicolas Notebaert, Greece’s Infrastructure and Transport Minister, Christos Staikouras and Western Greece’s Regional Governor, Nektarios Farmakis.
Greek sports personalities such as basketball player Panayótis Yannákis were also present. Bridge employees were appointed to carry the torch to the bridge. The event attracted a sizeable enthusiastic crowd.
VINCI Concessions CEO Nicolas Notebaert remarked:“As a symbol of peace, hope, celebration and friendship, the Olympic torch perfectly represents what the VINCI Group has built through its close partnership with Greece’s public authorities over all these years. This bridge linking Rio and Antirrio is a statement about connection in the country. We are very proud to celebrate its 20th anniversary and unveil VINCI Concessions’ plan to step up its environmental performance and speed up its digitalisation.”
VINCI Concessions is an international player in transport infrastructure. We leverage our integrated model to design, finance, build, operate and maintain more than 90 airports, highways and rail projects in 24 countries, through our subsidiaries VINCI Airports, VINCI Highways and VINCI Railways. We are committed to shared growth with regions, and are actively making mobility ever more sustainable, efficient and innovative.
