The B6 main road (locally referred as Limassol - Paphos old road, Greek "Παλαιός δρόμος Λεμεσού - Πάφου") used to be the main connecting route between Cyprus's second largest city and major seaport

Limassol Limassol, also known as Lemesos, is a city on the southern coast of Cyprus and capital of the Limassol district. Limassol is the second-largest urban area in Cyprus after Nicosia, with an urban population of 195,139 and a district population o ...

and

Paphos Paphos, also spelled as Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: #Old Paphos, Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and #New Paphos, New Paphos. It i ...

, one of the island's top tourist destinations.

History

Since the island's capital was moved from

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

after the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

times, transportation to

- being a very small town at the time - from the rest of the island was very difficult due to the mountainous geomorphology of the island's Southwestern coast. Until the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

colonial times people also used the sea as an alternative to avoid the extremely long dangerous path connecting the two areas. In the end of 19th Century, near 1890, the first road was built. It was approximately 80 km long and between 10-12 feet wide. The B6 was built at 1963 and it runs along the same corridor of the first road. After the Turkish invasion in 1974, and the occupation of the touristic key city of

Famagusta Famagusta, also known by several other names, is a city located on the eastern coast of Cyprus. It is located east of the capital, Nicosia, and possesses the deepest harbour of the island. During the Middle Ages (especially under the maritime ...

the government searched for alternatives to attract tourism to the rest of the island. The need of good road transportation to the whole island was one of the first projects to be done. The road is 66 km long (6 km longer than the A6 Motorway, a modern 4 lane highway that replaced the B6 as the main connecting route). It runs through 7 villages and the

Western Sovereign Base Area Akrotiri and Dhekelia (), officially the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (SBA), is a British Overseas Territory made of two non-contiguous areas on the island of Cyprus. The areas, which include British military bases and instal ...

Current status

After the completion of the A6 Motorway in 1996 the road is only used by locals, and rarely big traffic volumes occur. It is a very well maintained road and a very interesting drive. A small part of it after the village

Pissouri Pissouri () is a village located in Limassol District, Limassol district, Cyprus (Approximately thirty kilometres westwards of Limassol’s centre), between Limassol and Paphos. Pissouri’s administrative area is the third biggest in Limassol Dis ...

is used by tourists as scenic route, having a bend right next to Petra Tou Romiou, the legendary Aphrodite's birthplace. This road is currently closed to traffic from Pissouri to Aphrodites Rock due to instability of the land. It was closed in May 2019. There are plans to fix and reopen the road between Aphrodites Rock an Pissouri. Tenders finished at the end of November. Construction works are supposed to start end of January and will finish on June.

References

Motorways and roads in Cyprus Limited-access roads {{Cyprus-road-stub

History

Current status

See also

References