Long vehicle queues in Star Dojran block road to Dojran border crossing

Long lines of vehicles extended as far as the church of St. Ilija at the entrance to Star Dojran this morning, blocking the regional road that leads to the Dojran border crossing. Officials at the Border Police "Dojran" say the backlog has already lasted four hours and is preventing normal traffic flow toward the Greek border.

Overflow from Greek processing creates spillover

Border Police "Dojran" confirmed that the primary cause is a surge of arrivals that Greek authorities have been unable to process fast enough, so the queue spilled over onto the Macedonian side of the border and reached the roadside church.

"The congestion is on the Greek side; we are in constant contact with the Greek services who inform us that they are working at full capacity with all available resources, but because the cross-border area is already full the queue has spilled over to our side, and it has already reached the church 'St. Ilija'. An additional problem is that Bogorodica is also overcrowded, so many decide to leave there and come this way, which practically transfers the jam to our side," say Border Police "Dojran".

Authorities added that the beginning of the week is normally the busiest period for border crossings toward Greece because many holiday arrangements start on Monday, but the volume of traffic has been noticeably higher during the past two weeks — at the end of July and the start of August — as many citizens use that time for annual vacations.

The congestion affected the regional road for several hours, with drivers facing lengthy delays while border services in both countries coordinated to process the backlog.

Photo: press material from the event