The expansion of the Tirana-Durres expressway began as a plan to provide Tirana with a faster connection to Rinas airport and the coast. But the project is being carried out at the expense of thousands of pedestrians who use the road every day.
The removal of four out of seven overpasses has isolated entire communities in Kashar, Fushë-Kashar and Yzberisht, forcing citizens to walk dozens of minutes to get to work or basic services.
The billion-lek project, divided into several phases and accompanied by criticism for a lack of competition, exposes the gaps in urban planning and the lack of a long-term strategy for safe movement.
In this fragile terrain, institutional negligence is becoming a daily burden for citizens.
The works complicated the lives of pedestrians
In September 2024, the project to expand approximately 6.5 kilometers of the highway from the Kamza overpass to the Kashari overpass began.
The project, which is expected to be completed in 2027, aims to widen the road to reduce traffic, but it seems to have forgotten about pedestrians. The works have removed overpasses, making life difficult for residents along the road.
Along this segment there were 7 overpasses used by pedestrians to reach public transportation stations, workplaces, or to obtain other services.
The road expansion has currently removed 4 overpasses, forcing citizens to walk long distances to meet their daily needs.
The lack of accountability in urban planning, which should take into account all the needs of road users, has resulted in the emergence of this new problem. Since both sides of the area in question are concentrated with industrial activities and the largest enterprises in the country, which employ thousands of workers.
“Every morning [the workers] have to go through the hardships of crossing this highway where nothing has been done regarding pedestrian rights,” says Kacani, according to whom the removal of the overpasses has also caused difficulties for residents.
The overpasses that have been removed were used by pedestrians to cross the expressway at the junctions connecting secondary industrial roads and stations of the Vorë-Tirana urban area.
More specifically, they served to access the stations of Katund i Ri, Domje, Yrsheku and Mëzeza at points known mainly from nearby enterprises such as: “PSZ Albania”, “QTU”, “Coca Cola” and “Vodafone Albania”.
The most affected by the removal of overpasses are the residents of Kashari, such as Fushë-Kashari and Yzberisht.
The overpasses were placed at these points because there are schools, universities, companies, factories, and warehouses in front of them.
Their removal has forced workers and students to walk, mostly for over 30 minutes, to the nearest overpass.
"It is necessary to create dedicated lanes, spaces dedicated only to pedestrians, mainly safe underpasses from flooding or road safety," analyzed urban planner Kacani.
According to him, the area has an interweaving of industry, housing, and agriculture, making a more comprehensive infrastructure mandatory.
Myslym Fera, from Kamza, has been working for three years in one of the businesses on the secondary road of the new village in Kashar. He expresses his concern about the removal of the overpasses, because they force him to travel longer distances, forcing him to cycle for 20 minutes more to the nearest overpass located in the village, specifically in front of “BMW Albania”.
"I went over there at the 'Coca Cola' overpass, now I come and go here and go back up. I'm half an hour late. I think they're going to remove this too, they left it temporarily," said Fera.
The Albanian Road Authority told Citizens.al that it is considering placing new overpasses in almost the same positions as the existing ones, but did not indicate when they will be re-established, failing to respond to the concerns of citizens who have the right to use the road.
“[…] the overpasses have been removed because they were hindering the completion of the works on this facility. During the works phase, there is no management plan for pedestrian movement to avoid collapsing traffic and the progress of the works,” said the ARA.
"They've got it in their heads. Is this whole area going to be isolated?! I work almost at QTU, I make the trip twice because I'm going there and back on foot," said Bujari, who lives in Kashar.
The removal of four overpasses in the first phase is an indication that the same thing will happen with the three existing overpasses as the works continue.
"They took that one up, they took it to the QTU, they took that one down there, how are these people going to get there, do they have a schedule? They also have families, they are women with children. All of Yrshek are women with children, they go to the desert in the rain and in the cold, winter is coming," a pensioner, a resident of Kashari, told Citizens.al with concern, adding that "no one thinks about the people."
Government without long-term urban plans
Works to expand the Tirana-Durres highway began in 2024. They focused on the Kamza turn to the Kashari junction, for this segment the works were divided into three phases.
Around 1.7 billion lek were made available from the state budget for the first phase, which was won by "Bami Holding" in collaboration with "Curri shpk".
The second phase was won by another partnership: Elmazaj Konstruksion, “Nderimi shpk” and “Ndregjoni”. This phase also had almost the same limited fund: around 1.7 billion lek.
The funding for the third phase increased significantly, reaching nearly 2.5 billion lekë – 50% more than the funding for the first phases and foresees the construction of a connecting junction in Laknas with the Tirana-Durres superhighway. The company that was contracted for these works was “Alb-Building shpk”.
The Openprocurement.al platform – a project of the Albanian Institute of Science (AIS) – has assessed these tender procedures with red flags, because in all three cases the lowest bids were disqualified.
Road safety expert Artur Sulçe told Citizens.al that the construction of metal structures that serve as overpasses should have been considered from the beginning of the works.
“[…] some citizens may have parts of their properties on both the left and right sides of the road,” recalled road expert Sulçe, among other reasons for having overpasses.
During the inspection at the construction site of the Tirana-Durres road axis, Prime Minister Rama, accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku, stated that "a decorative wall" or "some kind of decorative divider" is necessary for the highway.
This comment of his confirms once again that urban planning is not sustainable in Albania. It depends either on the interests of large entrepreneurs in the country, or on the tastes of the prime minister himself.
The development of Tirana as an amorphous city has spread as a model to other major cities in the country such as Durrës, Vlora, Shkodra, etc.
The removal of overpasses in Kashar is a small detail in this stagnation of urban development, but one that clearly shows the difficulties that citizens face.
Without clear and long-term planning, any public investment risks turning into waste, all at the expense of taxpayers, who also suffer direct consequences in their daily lives./ Citizens.al
