Authors: Erisa Kryeziu and Dallandyshe Xhaferri | Citizens.al
Albanians and foreign tourists spent part of this summer stuck in traffic, not so much on vacation. The most shared photos from Albania online were not coastal views, but traffic maps on Google Maps colored red.
National roads connecting Tirana with Durrës, Lezha, Shkodra and the south of the country were continuously blocked by traffic. Citizens told Citizens.al that their journeys were extended for hours due to congestion, but also due to works on some of the main roads.
Without information, at the mercy of traffic
Gabriel Rakaj, who often travels the Tirana-Shkodra road, described it to Citizens.al as impassable during the tourist season. It usually takes about an hour and a half to drive there, but during the tourist season it took "two and a half to three hours."
The traffic was caused by construction work at the entrance to Shkodra. They started this year and envisage the expansion of the road from "Harku i Bërdica" to "Ura e Bahçallëkut". The project, worth around 10 million euros, is expected to be completed in 2026.
Klaudia Baci, a resident of Durrës, also experienced five hours of traffic jams while returning by bus from a trip to Shkodra. The cause was an accident and the lack of timely response from the authorities.
"We only got out of traffic because the driver found a way through the villages, otherwise we would have been stuck even longer," Klaudia told Citizens.al.
According to Rakaj, the entrance to Shkodra was a problematic traffic junction, but he added that there was equally heavy traffic at the entrances and exits of Lezha, Shëngjin and the "National Road".
These axes were overloaded mainly after the closure of the old Milot bridge, which resulted in a risk of collapse due to damage to its legs.
Heavy traffic was also encountered at the western entrance to Tirana. The Kashar-Tirana axis was described by Rakaj as "always problematic".
Since October 2024, work has begun on expanding this segment. The project, worth around 35 million euros, is expected to be completed in 2026.
From a Citizens.al questionnaire, most citizens stated that they had no prior information about road works and that they only learned about traffic jams while traveling from the Google platform or social networks.
Some said they were forced to change their vacation plans or even their destination.
Economic expert, Zef Preçi, considers this situation negative for the tourism experience in Albania with the risk that visitors will not return. "due to time lost traveling within the country."
"There are thousands of hours lost, pollution, fuel consumption, stress and tourists who never return," he stressed.
Citizens reported in the Citizens.al questionnaire that similar traffic problems were encountered on other roads such as Tirana-Durrës, Tirana-Elbasan, or the roads towards Vlora and Saranda.
Experts: Unplanned investments and transportation alternatives
According to Albanian authorities, during the tourist season there were 4.2 million vehicle entries and exits, of which 2.7 million were with foreign license plates and 1.5 million with Albanian license plates.
But the infrastructure seems unable to cope with the influx as transportation alternatives are lacking: Albania has no railway or metro in the main cities.
Economic expert Zef Preçi calls this a crisis caused by the lack of long-term transportation policies. According to him, the Rama government inherited problematic roads, but in 12 years it moved away from master plans and did not improve them.
He says that investments went mainly to projects that did not bring substantial changes and had inflated costs.
"Hundreds of millions of euros have been invested, up to double the initial costs, but travel time has not been reduced," said Preçi, mentioning the Qafë Thanë-Qafë Plloçë axis project as problematic.
Preçi sees the solution in balanced investments: railways, functional bypasses and real maintenance. At this point, he took as negative examples investments for electoral purposes, interests of builders or even the case of the closure of the Mati bridge.
For Preçi, during the tourism period, transport infrastructure must be organized in order to avoid similar cases.
Meanwhile, urban planner Imeldi Sokoli believes that tourist flows cannot be handled with interrupted roads and underdeveloped junctions.
"The Tirana-Shkodra axis is half highway, half interurban road. Summer flows make it unusable," he points out.
Sokoli says that in recent years there have been improvements in the condition of the roads, but he says that many projects have been delayed or have not started at all.
As delayed investments, he mentions axes such as "Corridor VIII" that connects Durrës with Elbasan and North Macedonia, the "Arbri Road" with problems in completing the Murriz tunnel, or the so-called Adriatic-Ionian highway, which according to him, with the exception of the Thumanë-Kashar segment, "there was no implementation at all."
Sokoli recalls that this highway was included in projects for international donors in 2015, but that "Albania has moved very slowly in absorbing these funds."
Experts agree that with this approach to major infrastructure projects, it is unlikely that the traffic situation will change quickly.
In general, citizens said in the Citizens.al questionnaire that road works should not take place in the summer, but in quieter periods like autumn, even at night, not during the day. Some called for the improvement of secondary roads, others for better traffic management with punitive measures for those who break the rules.
But as the summer tourist season has closed and traffic has eased somewhat, the concern remains the same: Will we waste time on the roads again next summer?
For Zef Preçi, the solution can only come if the main cities improve "bypass"-s and internal urban transport. He even believes that stops to pay for roads should be as few as possible.
"Before new roads, a serious assessment of the economic benefits and impact on citizens' lives is needed," says Preçi.
Experts agree that the development of railways and metros could facilitate movement. But projects such as the Tirana-Durrës, Tirana-Hani i Hotit, and Shkodër-Gjakovë railways are still on paper.
