Rally causes traffic headache in the capital

By Evie Andreou

Tempers flared in Nicosia on Friday as drivers experienced traffic jams after roads were closed to accommodate the Cyprus Rally.

People with work in the centre had to find other routes to get to their destination after several roads were closed because of the rally’s special stage that will take place on both sides of the divided city.

Police urged drivers to be patient and avoid unnecessary movement in the area.

Nicosia traffic chief Harris Evripides said arrangements had been made to ease the heavy traffic.

“We are doing whatever is possible to help people reach their destinations,” he said.

He added that more than a hundred traffic police members were out in the streets since 6.30am struggling to help the public.

Evripides said that racing cars did trial routes in the morning and from 2pm until 4pm some roads were going to open so that people getting off work at 3pm would be able to leave the city centre.

More jams were expected at 5.30pm, when the special stage was scheduled to start. The roads were expected to reopen at midnight.

The start will be outside the finance ministry, which is also the beginning of the Nicosia Special Stage; racing crews will follow a five-kilometre course through the city, including the Turkish occupied northern part.

But beyond the frustration and the expletives, some people who experienced the jams chose to look at the ‘positive’ side. One said in a twitter message that at least Greek and Turkish Cypriots joined forces in cursing and nagging.

Others joked that it would have been better if civil servants had gone on strike after all.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.