motorway is ; it currently has three traffic lanes for each direction and forms the city's most vital road link; handling more than 120,000 vehicles daily, instead of the 30,000 vehicles that it was originally designed to handle in 1975. An outer ring road known as Eksoteriki Peripheriaki Odos (, outer ring road) carries all traffic that completely bypasses the city. It is Part of Motorway 2. Future plans Despite the large effort that was made in 2004 to improve the motorway features of the Thessaloniki ring road, the motorway is still insufficient to tackle Thessaloniki's increasing traffic and metropolitan population. To tackle this problem, the government has introduced large scale redevelopment plans throughout 2011 with tenders expected to be announced within early 2012; that include the total restructuring of the A16 in the western side of the city, with new junctions and new emergency lanes throughout the whole length of the motorway. In the eastern side an even larger scale project has been announced, for the construction of a new elevated motorway section above the existing, which would allow faster travel for drivers heading through to the airport and Chalkidiki that do not wish to exit into the city, and will decongest the existing motorway for city commuters. The plans also include adding one more lane in each direction on the existing A16 ring road and on the A25 passing through Thessaloniki's southeast suburbs, from its junction with the A16 in Kalamaria, up to the airport exit (ΕΟ67); which will make it an 8 lane highway. Additional long-term plans include the extension of the planned outer ring road known as Eksoteriki Peripheriaki Odos (, outer ring road) to circle around the entire Thessaloniki metropolitan area, crossing over the Thermaic Gulf from the east, to join with the A1/E75 motorway. Preliminary plans have been announced which include a bridge over the gulf, as part of the southern bypass of the city; to cater for the large number of travellers from Macedonia and the rest of Greece heading to the airport, and to the increasingly popular tourist region of Chalkidiki. Motorways: A1/E75 W (Republic of North Macedonia, Larissa, Athens) A2/E90 W (Kozani, Ioannina, Igoumenitsa) N (Kavala, Xanthi, Alexandroupolis, Turkey) A25 (ΕΟ12)/Ε79 Ν (Serres, Bulgaria) A25 (ΕΟ67) S (Airport, Nea Moudania) National Roads: ΕΟ2/Ε86 W (Edessa, Giannitsa) ΕΟ12/Ε79 Ν (Serres, Drama) ΕΟ16, SW (Polygyros, Ouranopolis) ΕΟ65, Ν (Kilkis, Doirani) International relations Consulates