Greece: 2 schemes to know about before you drive in.
Kozani has 2 driving restrictions on our books: the Έγκριση της υπ’ αρ. 6/2020 απόφασης της Επιτροπής Ποιότητας Ζωής του… (limited traffic zone) and the Έγκριση της υπ’ αρ. 98/2026 απόφασης του Δημοτικού Συμβουλίου του Δήμου… (limited traffic zone). What is a limited traffic zone?
Sources last read on 2026-09-24, from the authorities' own pages. The next scheduled check is 2026-12-22.
| Scheme | Kind | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Έγκριση της υπ’ αρ. 6/2020 απόφασης της Επιτροπής Ποιότητας Ζωής του Δήμου Κοζάνης αναφορικά με την λήψη μόνιμων μέτρων ρύθμισης της κυκλοφορίας στα πλαίσια της μελέτης «Ανάπλαση πλατείας Λασσάνη και πέριξ οδών» (αποφ. οικ. 25969, ΦΕΚ Β' 1168/26.03.2021) | limited traffic zone | €350.00 |
| Έγκριση της υπ’ αρ. 98/2026 απόφασης του Δημοτικού Συμβουλίου του Δήμου Κοζάνης για τη λήψη μόνιμων μέτρων ρύθμισης της κυκλοφορίας στα πλαίσια της μελέτης «Ανάπλαση πλατείας στο Ο.Τ. 597 στην Κοζάνη» (αριθμ. οικ. 19694ΕΜΚ, ΦΕΚ Β' 3318/11.06.2026) | limited traffic zone | €350.00 |
Kozani is the capital of Greek West Macedonia and the town most drivers cross rather than aim for — it sits where the Egnatia Odos motorway meets the road down to Larisa and the road up to Kastoria, and its centre is Plateia Lassani.
In March 2021 the Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση Ηπείρου - Δυτικής Μακεδονίας gazetted the permanent traffic scheme that came with the square's rebuilding, and two of its measures are bans rather than street furniture. 🔑 The section of Ermou along the western side of the square, between Kontorousi and Takiatzidon, is a pedestrian street.
And Ierolochiton is a pedestrian street too, with a second and separate restriction on top of it: through traffic towards Olympou is banned, Polyzouli is the single entry and exit point, and the only vehicles excepted are emergency vehicles — «εκτός των οχημάτων έκτακτου ανάγκης». ⚠️ Everything else the act does is a change to how the surrounding streets work rather than a prohibition on entering them, and a driver should not read the list as a closed centre.
Four streets around the square are redesignated «οδός ήπιας κυκλοφορίας», a traffic-calmed road, and stay open: the northern section of Ermou between Kontorousi and E. Venizelou, the section of Olympou along the eastern side between Archelaou and Athinas, Athinas, and Kontorousi between Lioufi and Ermou. Athinas also becomes one-way, from Polyzouli towards Lioufi.
The act bans parking on most of the perimeter and moves the town bus stop off the pedestrianised part of Ermou to Eptanisou, on the southern side of the square. 🔑 There is no season, no clock, no charge and no permit anywhere in this scheme.
It is a permanent change to what two streets are, not a timed closure, and the act creates nothing a visitor could buy or apply for. ⚠️ The one thing the gazette does not give is the date it started.
The measures were approved in 2021 as part of the «Ανάπλαση πλατείας Λασσάνη και πέριξ οδών» project; the works themselves were gazetted separately in June 2023 with a twenty-four month execution window, and no act in this series says on what day the permanent arrangement replaced the works arrangement. 🔑 Kozani has a second permanent scheme of the same shape, at a different square, gazetted on 11 June 2026 for the block Ο.Τ.
597: it pedestrianises a section of Sperchiou and a section of Acheloou and makes Modi, Alfeiou and Acheloou one-way. It is a separate decision about a separate place and no rule on this page comes from it; it is named here so that this page is not read as the whole of Kozani.
Kozani has two permanent pedestrianisation schemes, and this is the second one — a different square, a different decision, five years later. The square has no name: the act identifies it only by its town-plan block, «πλατεία στο Ο.Τ. 597», and it sits in the grid east of the centre, ringed by Modi on the west, Alfeiou on the north, Acheloou on the east and Sperchiou on the south.
On 11 June 2026 the Αποκεντρωμένη Διοίκηση Ηπείρου - Δυτικής Μακεδονίας gazetted decision 98/2026 of the Δημοτικό Συμβούλιο Κοζάνης under article 55 of the Highway Code, and two of its items are closures rather than street furniture. 🔑 The section of Sperchiou along the southern side of the square, between Modi and Acheloou, becomes a pedestrian street; so does the section of Acheloou along the eastern side, between Sperchiou and Alfeiou. ⚠️ Everything else the act does leaves the street open.
Six one-way orders are made — two on Modi, two on Alfeiou, one on Acheloou and one on Askiou — the pavements are widened on Modi, Acheloou and Alfeiou, and parking is banned on Modi and Alfeiou. A driver must not read the block as closed. 🚨 Two things in this act decide whether the two closures are on the ground, and the act states both rather than settling either.
First, the publisher frames the pedestrianisation from the signage side: the words are «Η σήμανση για την υλοποίηση της πεζοδρόμησης», the signing for the implementation of the pedestrianisation, and article 14 §2 of the Code lets that signing be installed only after a further application study which the municipality's supervising service has to approve.
Second, the tenth condition says that where a pedestrian street was not provided for in the town plan from the start, the measure «ισχύουν και έχουν εφαρμογή μετά την ολοκλήρωση της διαδικασίας τροποποίησης του ρυμοτομικού σχεδίου» — it takes effect only after the town-plan amendment is completed.
And the act's own preamble says Modi and Sperchiou «δεν είναι διανοιγμένες», are not laid out yet. 🔑 Acheloou is the exception and the act says so in a parenthesis: clause Α)7 widens «της οδού Αχελώου (πεζόδρομος)» to 4.6 m, calling it a pedestrian street in the present tense, so that one is a street that already is what the scheme confirms.
There is no season, no clock, no charge and no permit anywhere in this scheme, and nothing here can be bought or applied for. 🔑 This is not Plateia Lassani. Kozani's central square, about 600 m west, has its own permanent scheme from 2021 and its own page; nothing on this page describes Ermou or Ierolochiton, and nothing on that one describes these streets.