With the constant pressure to find more parking space in Chania for both residents and visitors to the city, the Chania Municipal Council is continually seeking new sites which can be pressed into service, if only temporarily, as car parks. Following the opening of the first peripheral car park at Kladissos just a year ago – which has proved a great success with its free electric bus rides to the city centre – there has been little evidence until recently of progress on the further three such car parks planned, for which sites have to be found, land purchased and compensation agreed with the owners.
The sale of the former Markopoulou Barracks to the Chania Council by the Ministry of Defence in 2023 had led to hopes of creating a much needed “green lung” in the south-east quarter of the city. While local residents were determined that the whole of the 52 stremmata ceded to the Municipality should become a park for their use and recreation, the Municipal Council decided that it represented an ideal opportunity to add to the stock of available parking spaces, at least temporarily, while plans for a larger peripheral car park in the Mournies area were being brought to fruition.
With the local residents maintaining an ongoing barrage of protest, the Council began works at the beginning of June to fit out two rectangular areas totalling 4 stremmata, capable of housing up to 230 cars. The entrance to the former barracks lies on Malinou Street, just east of the point where the extension of the Souda road (Boulevard Karamanlis) splits into Apokoronas and Nearchou as it approaches the city centre. At a Council meeting on 2nd June, a proposal was discussed to extend the electric bus route to take in stops on Malinou Street and the Plateia Eleftherias (Dikastirion), and this will presumably go ahead once the preparations for the parking spaces at the Markopoulou site are completed.
Also on 2nd June, according to a report on Zarpanews.gr, the Council voted to issue a public tender for a second park-and-ride site to match that at Kladissos, this time in the Mournies area, with a deadline for expressions of interest by landowners of 26th June.
New parking spaces at KTEL
In addition, approval has been received from the Technical Services of the Cretan Regional Authority to create two new parking areas at the back of the KTEL terminus on Kydonias Street in the centre of Chania. Access will be from Smyrnis Street, off Zimvrakakidon, which runs south from 1866 Square, and a no-parking rule will be enforced in Smyrnis, which is one way from east to west. The main part of the site will be a paid, unmanned public car park with 58 spaces, while a separate area will provide 8 free slots for people using the KTEL parcel service. The latter will be open during the hours of service of the parcels office.
The creation of the new car park is still subject to the issue of a permit by the Chania Planning Department, and the preparatory work to be done includes fencing off the whole area and installing signs and road markings to enforce the no-parking rule in Smyrnis Street.
(Haniotika Nea, 14/06/25)