MOTORISTS tired of rush-hour delays at the Gavrielides intersection in Nicosia can take heart: by mid-September, the two decaying buildings jutting into Grivas Dighenis Avenue will be demolished, expanding that street from three lanes to four.
The buildings in question are the Tsiappas Building and the Athena Secondary School, on the southwest corner of the major intersection, City Engineer Costas Constantinou said yesterday.
“I’m hoping to start in the last week of July and to complete the work by August 20, when people are away on the holidays, so there will not be so much traffic,” Constantinou told the Cyprus Mail.
“The last week in August, the Public Works Department will do the extra (westbound) lane,” on Grivas Dhigenis Avenue, he said. “I’m hoping to complete everything by mid-September, when people return (from holiday).”
The demolition will mean there will be “an extra lane on Grivas Dighenis Avenue, so that when you are coming from Santa Rosa Avenue, you will have two lanes to go to on Dighenis, instead of the one today, which creates a lot of traffic problems and congestion,” Constantinou said.
“It took over 10 years” of increasing traffic congestion at the busy intersection and court battles finally to acquire the Tsiappas Building, Constantinou said.
The problem arose when the city, in acquiring the Tsiappas Building, took a bit more square footage to complete the widening of Grivas Dighenis Street than was needed, he said.
The Attorney-general balked, saying the city could not take over more of the building’s land than it needed to widen Grivas Dighenis Avenue, he said.
So the city finally swapped 700 square metres of the land it acquired when it bought the Athena Secondary School for £350,000 in return for the entire Tsiappas Building’s 900 square metres of land, Constantinou said, adding: “Everybody’s happy.”
Constantinou conceded there were several other streets in Nicosia where buildings or trees blocked one lane of heavily used roads. One such site is on Nikis Avenue, not far from the Gavrielides intersection.
“We have a problem there with the owner,” he said. “We went to court,” to win the right to demolish the building. “It’s taken about 10 years in the courts.”
But the city finally won, he said. “The house will be demolished,” to free up the blocked lane of Nikis Avenue. “It will be completed, I’m hoping, by the end of this year,” he added.
