TORREVIEJA TRANSPORT LINKS STILL NO CLEARER

The Secretary General of the Partido Popular in Valencia, Isabel Bonig, was asked questions relating to the transport network of Torrevieja during a visit to the city´s Habaneras musical event this week.

However, the senior politician was unable to clearly answer the two questions asked regarding work on the N-332 and the missing high speed train bus link.

According to Bonig, any work on assessing the needs of the N-332 coast road as it passes Torrevieja are “delayed” awaiting the validation of an environmental impact study. For many years motorists have suffered huge delays and queues on the only section of the road that wasn´t widened during the recent expansion, a problem which still occurs today and which has seen many people chose to avoid Torrevieja during the busy season as a result.

Similarly, recent calls to provide lane separation on the stretch which has seen a number of fatal crashes this year alone have not yet progressed, apparently awaiting the final improvements form the central government of Madrid.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Torrevieja, Eduardo Dolón, was in consultation on Friday regarding the plans to build a Brico Depot DIY store on land between the N-332 and salt lakes near to the cemetery. There is no question that constructing on the 32,000 square metre plot intended for the project would have an environmental impact as it borders the protected Salinas and wetlands, home to a diverse range of flora and fauna, but the success of the store would obviously rely on traffic coming into the area, taking trade away from the likes of Zenia Boulevard, Crevillente, Elche, and Alicante areas where similar stores exist, thus amplifying the problem of the N-332 beyond the current gridlock. The local traders association of Torrevieja, APYMECO, have voiced their objections as the city traders have already lost out to business since the Habaneras centre was built, let alont the loss of trade to Orihuela with the construction of Zenia Boulevard.

There had been plans in the past to ease the problems, with talk of a direct train link to Torrevieja being reinstated, that then changed to an extension of the Alicante tram network, which in turn then became an almost pipe-dream proposal for automatic buses that read road markings and don´t require drivers, all of which would improve the public transport network, but none of which have become anywhere near to reality.

The high speed train from Madrid to Alicante is a reality however, but the connections from Torrevieja and Benidorm are not. The mayor of Torrevieja, Eduardo Dolón, announced that the direct bus would be available in time to promote during this year´s FITUR tourism event in Madrid during March, a somewhat premature announcement which never materialised.

The official announcement did eventually come that the service was to start on the 15th of July, but that service simply failed to start. Announcements during the week remained vague, with such comments informing us that the link would start “soon”, or “by the weekend”, once again not coming to fruition.

Faced with the question as to when the service will actually start, Bonig answered the question by explain that there “are some last minute delays”, but the service will start “Within a very short time, the next few weeks”.

Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/44416/

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