Roads and motorways in Cyprus

According to 2002 statistics, the road network in areas administered by the Republic of Cyprus consists of about 7,206 km of paved and 4,387 km of unpaved roads. Although the first motorway in Cyprus (the A1) was completed as recently as October 1985, by 2009 the country already had the most motorway km per capita (36.8 km /100,000 inhabitants) among all European Union members.[1]

There are no toll paying roads in Cyprus to date.

Maintenance

The Department of Public Works of the Ministry of Transportation, Communications and Works is generally responsible for the maintenance, improvement and construction of the road network; while the municipalities are responsible for those secondary and intercity roads in their jurisdiction in more granular ways; with the District Administration Authorities taking the responsibilities of what would be municipal governments in areas which are not in municipalities (rural areas). The Forestry Department is separately responsible for most unpaved roads in forest areas, in order to accommodate the administration and protection of forests.

History

In the 1970s, the Cypriot Government introduced a series of schemes to improve the infrastructure of transport in the country. The first planned motorway was to be built between Nicosia and Nicosia International Airport, roughly on the route of the current Griva Digeni Avenue and B10. The road was widened in preparation, but following the Turkish Invasion of Cyprus in July 1974 and the closure of the airport as a result, this scheme was abandoned. Also due to the Turkish Invasion, Limassol emerged as the main port of Cyprus, so the decision was made to build a motorway between Nicosia and Limassol instead.

In July 2025, the European Investment Bank (EIB) was reported to provide funds of €100 million to allow for improvements to the general road network [2]

Speed limits

For passenger cars and vans below 3.5 long tons (3.9 short tons), the speed limits in Cyprus are generally as follows:[3]

Type of road Limit in km/h (mph)
Pedestrian zones 30 (19)
Urban 50 (31)
Rural 80 (50)
Motorway 100 (62)

Motorways of Cyprus

Name Connecting Cities Status Year completed Special Features
Nicosia - Limassol Completed 1985 1st Motorway in Cyprus, 5,200m Emergency runway
Nicosia - Larnaca Completed 1991 1st Modern Motorway in Cyprus, 1st Motorway Interchange in Cyprus
Larnaca Airport - Ayia Napa Completed 2002 First Beltway in Cyprus
Larnaca - Limassol Completed 1996 5,000m emergency runway
Limassol - Paphos Completed 2006 950m tunnel, 110m tall bridge, one of the 300 largest in the world.
Paphos - Polis Under construction Completion expected by 2031 3 tunnels
Limassol - Saittas Completed from Polemidia - Palodia Completion expected at an unknown date 1st split-level dual carriageway in Cyprus
Nicosia - Evrychou Completed from Nicosia - Deneia and from Astromeritis - Evrychou Completion expected after 2030 Links Nicosia to Troodos Mountains
Nicosia-Palaichori Under Construction Anthoupolis - Ergates , Ergates - Palaichori under design Completion expected at an unknown date 4 lane section of E903 near Anthopoulis Roundabout will become part of the motorway
Nicosia Ring Road Completed from A1 to B901 road Completion expected at an unknown date 3.2km of cut and cover tunneling in Lakatamia

B Roads of Cyprus

Logo Route Urban Name
Limassol - Nicosia Giannou Kardioti
Pera Chorio - Larnaca Georgiou Griva Digeni
Larnaca - Agia Napa Ammoxostou
Dromolaxia - Larnaca Artemidos Avenue
Kofinou - Larnaca Lemesou
Limassol - Paphos Archebiskopu Makarios III
Paphos - Polis Chrysophous Hellados Avenue
Limassol - Troodos Despinas and Nikou Patichi
Nicosia - Troodos Archangel Michael
Grigoris Afxentiou to Kokkinotrimithia n/a
Palouriotissa - Sopaz John Kennedy
Nicosia - Aglantzia Larnakas
Nicosia - Agios Dometitos Grigoris Afxentiou
Kenedy Square - Kato Paphos Apostolou Pavlou
Nicosia Orbital Spyrou Kiprianou

Road network categories and numbering

Roads and Motorways in Cyprus can be classified into 6 main categories:


  • Motorways: 4 lanes, free of any at-grade intersections. They are the most important road network on the island, and the letter "A" is used for their official numbering. They usually either run parallel to the B class roads of the same name (Like the A1) or are upgraded B roads (Like part of the A3). While there is no formal announcement about the numbering of new motorways under construction and under planning, it's anticipated that they will have the same number as the B road they will replace. So the Paphos - Polis Motorway will be coded A7 because A is the letter of Motorways and 7 because it will "replace" the B7 in terms of functionality.



  • Intercity Routes: usually 2 lanes, except sometimes to help with congestion, can have roundabouts and traffic lights. They are labelled as B routes, and all have 1 number. Most of them have been replaced for intercity transport with their same-number Motorway counterparts, but are often still important for urban transport


  • Main Avenues: important roads that are mostly within city limits that are labeled B routes due to either being seen as important or having had 4 lanes during classification



  • Secondary "E" Roads: when classified they had 2 lanes and were always paved. Their numbers contain 3 digits. The first digit is the serial number of the motorway or intercity road (main road) it branches off of either directly or as a sub-branch and the last two digits are a serial number of the road itself, with it getting larger the further away it is from the start of the main road


  • Secondary "F" Roads: when coded during the 80's 1 laned and often unpaved, today almost completely paved and often having lanes in both directions. They use "F" in the official coding system, and they are counted in the same way as "E"s are. There is no "E" with the same number as an "F".


  • Unclassified roads. Roads were constructed after the road network was numbered, so they will remain without a serial number until the next road numbering evaluation.

Road safety

Cyprus currently holds a worse than average road safety record in the European Union[4][5]

Official Figuresa [6][7] 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Accidents 3,172 3,052 3,021 2,080 2,131 1,856 1,883 1,690 1,492 1,273 1,154 958 942 876 741 727 506 422 555 -
Injuriesb 4,232 4,490 3,916 3,712 3,586 3,531 3,176 3,523 3,411 1,963 1,723 1,762 1,553 1,381 1,129 1,070 947 964 838 741 673 429 491 505 -
Fatalities 103 132 115 133 118 128 115 111 113 111 98 94 97 117 98 84[8] 89 82[9] 71 60 71 51 44 45 57 46 53 49 52 48 44 38 -
Fatalities/Million 150 189 161 184 162 174 155 149 150 147 129 124 128 154

^a Pre-2008 data: European Commission Road Safety Country Profile report for Cyprus. Post-2008 data: Cyprus' National Open Data Portal

^b Data entered from 2008 onwards does not include deaths or fatalities.

References

  1. ^ "Panorama of transport 2009". Eurostat. May 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 March 2012. Retrieved 18 June 2009.
  2. ^ "EIB supports €100 million initiative to improve Cyprus's road network". European Investment Bank. Retrieved 18 January 2026.
  3. ^ "European Commission – Road Safety – Going abroad". Your Europe. European Union. 18 September 2024. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  4. ^ "EU road safety 2004 : Regional differences - Issue number 14/2007" (PDF). Eurostat. 6 February 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  5. ^ "Improving road safety in Cyprus" (PDF). European Transport Safety Council. 15 December 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  6. ^ "Road Safety Country Profile" (PDF). European Commission. October 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  7. ^ "Εθνική Διαδικτυακή Πύλη Ανοικτών Δεδομένων". National Open Data Portal (in Greek). Retrieved 11 May 2021.
  8. ^ Saoulli, Alexia (16 December 2006). "Road safety improving, but more needs to be done". Cyprus Mail. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  9. ^ "More work needed to drop road toll". Cyprus Mail. 28 January 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.

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