The Valencian government will almost definitely end its mandate without beginning the works to extend the CV-95 between Torrevieja and Orihuela. A year after Vicente Martínez Mus, minister of infrastructure, announced that an economic feasibility study would be conducted in order for private initiative to undertake the long-awaited widening project, which has been pending for four decades, the regional government has put out to tender the drafting of the basic project and the necessary studies for the future concession of the expansion works between the two municipalities, with the aim of improving the capacity and road safety of this key route in the region.
This was confirmed yesterday, Thursday April 16th, by the third vice-president and councillor, who claimed that “as we promised all the mayors of the area and the Vega Baja, we are fulfilling stages to make such a demanded and longed for infrastructure a reality”.
It is in fact a strategic road linking the interior of the region with the shore and has a strong traffic flow, especially during the summer months when the population increases considerably. This condition causes concerns of capacity and traffic safety at different parts, especially at the entrances to the main urban centres.
Agreement
The contract will allow to define the most appropriate technical solution, as well as to analyse the many possibilities of action, including the duplication of the road and the execution of variants that contribute to the reduction of the traffic in the towns.
The cost is 1,317,969 euro, and covers the feasibility study and the contractual structure of the concession that will provide technical support in the subsequent phases for the awarding of the works to a concessionaire.
The corporation would undertake all the costs of the public works and of maintenance and operation throughout the concession time. The Administration would pay it an annual fee as an availability payment that would enable it to amortise the above expenditures during the concession period.
Performances
The area of action covers about 26.5 kilometres and crosses or borders municipalities such as Orihuela, Bigastro, Jacarilla and San Miguel de Salinas, where the road currently has a single lane in each direction and limitations derived from its layout and its integration into urban environments.
The required preliminary studies will enable the project to be developed through a public-private partnership model , comprising the technical, economic and environmental feasibility investigations, as well as the structuring of a future concession. With this tender, the Generalitat (Valencian Government) confirms that it is moving forward in the planning and execution of a priority infrastructure project for the territorial cohesion of the Vega Baja region, to improve mobility, safety and connectivity between the interior and the coast.
Martínez Mus pointed out the benefits of the concession model and stressed that efforts such as availability payments have benefits for undertaking an investment that, in this case, is around 180 million euros. He also pointed out that the highway will be toll-free: “It will not imply any kind of burden for users “, while adding that “this is good news for the residents of Vega Baja”, since “finally, definitive steps are being taken on this infrastructure.”
The regional minister explained this plan to the mayors of the area and the leading real estate building enterprises in a meeting in Torrevieja at the end of April. The declaration comes following the disappearance from the Generalitat’s 2025 budget of 25 million euros, an initial investment of the multi-year investment to start building a directly awarded project.
The councillor then set a projected completion date, acknowledging that the process takes time: “The Consell’s commitment is to have the project completed before the end of the legislature [2027], as well as the Environmental Impact Statement approved and the concession tender underway.”
The Generalitat formalised in June the contract for the drafting of the project to widen the CV-95 between Los Balcones and Mar Azul, at the height of the University Hospital of Torrevieja (which registers an average traffic of 18,000 vehicles daily), with an execution period of 12 months, so it will probably not be a reality until after the summer of 2027.
By now there are so many cars that there is congestion and ambulances have to utilise the median in emergencies. This route is located in a very urbanised area with bad public transport, hence the narrow shoulders are often used as pedestrian walkways to connect the town centre with Los Balcones and the hospital.
