Communications

communications

Province’s new roads pass progress test after first month open to traffic

December 5, 2011
Costa del Sol News
No Comments
communications, costa del sol, málaga

The new outer ring road now absorbs 30 per cent of the traffic around the city, with an average of 25,000 vehicles a day

A full month has gone by since the Malaga outer ring road and the Las Pedrizas toll motorway opened to traffic and a look at the statistics gives way to a positive overview.

Motorists’ associations argue that the better the road infrastructure the greater road safety, and in Malaga this appears to be the case. So far the outer ring road, known as the ‘hiperronda’, has seen no fatal accidents and only one collision of importance, on November 21st, when one man was injured. If we compare the months of November in 2010 and 2011 the death toll on the roads in the province of Malaga as a whole has gone down from ten to two.

While some drivers have yet to discover the benefits of taking the outer ring road instead of the usual bypass the new infrastructure is already absorbing a third of the traffic that would otherwise be on the old Ronda Oeste. According to a study carried out between November 7th and 20th, the new road between La Virreina and Torremolinos is used by a daily average of 25,000 vehicles, with peaks of 35,000 on Fridays.

Las Pedrizas toll road

Similarly the new toll motorway (AP-46) that links the outer ring road with Las Pedrizas can report a positive first month. With an average of ten thousand vehicles every day, the new road has taken around 30 per cent of traffic from the old A-45, which is now used by an average of 35,000 vehicles a day.

The firm responsible for the running of the toll motorway, Guadalcesa, stressed that so far there have been no serious accidents to report. The toll motorway is used most at weekends when the volume of traffic increases by as much as 40 per cent. This augurs well for user figures for next week’s public holidays and the Christmas period.

“Users are still not familiar with the new option”, said a Guadalcesa representative.

Construction contract awarded for last Granada section of A-7 motorway

November 28, 2011
Granada News
No Comments
communications, granada

The 9-kilometre section from Gorgoracha to Puntalón is due for completion next year.

The contract has been awarded to build the final stretch of the A-7 Autovía del Mediterráneo motorway in Granada province, with a budget of 39 million €. The 9 kilometre section of motorway will connect Gorgoracha with Puntalón.

Construction is due to start next month and is due for completion next year. The contract also includes the access road to the port at Motril.

EFE reports that four sections of the A-7 are due to open in Granada province next year, from Almuñécar as far as Carchuna. The remaining stretch from Castell de Ferro to Polopos and Albuñol is scheduled to be in service in 2013.

Malaga’s new runway, ready for take-off

November 25, 2011
Costa del Sol News, Málaga News
No Comments
airport, communications, costa del sol, málaga, tourism

Work began in summer 2007, just when Malaga airport was starting to show symptoms of saturation, and now its completion comes just in time for take-off, as monthly figures confirm a recovery in the tourism industry on the Costa del Sol. The airport’s second runway is now ready and is expected to be in operation from March 2012, after a test period.

From then on the airport will be able to double its number of take-off and landing operations (from 37 to 72) which means as many 9,500 passengers arriving or departing every hour, as many as 30 million a year. Malaga will become the fifth Spanish airport with more than one runway, after Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca and Gran Canaria.

At the end of last week the Spanish aviation authority, Aena, and the Socialist MPs, Miguel Ángel Heredia and Daniel Pérez, all sang the praises of the new runway and the benefits it would bring with it. According to the planned time scale, the initial safety tests are being carried out between now and September. These will take the form of test flights to calibrate the newly installed air navigation systems which send information to aircraft to help with approach and landing in adverse weather conditions.

Additional tests will be carried out during the rest of the year, so that Aena’s airspace department can design the departure and arrival manoeuvres. Once it has been confirmed that all the navigation systems, essential to guarantee flight safety, are functioning correctly, the airport will be given the necessary certification from the State Aviation Safety Authority, in order to be given the green light by Spain and the EU. Then it will be ready for use.

The runway stretches for 2,750 metres for landing aircraft and 3,090 metres including the extra take-off run. It’s location is 14 degrees from the existing runway, which makes them “quasi-parallel”. The dimensions of the new runway will mean that the larger jumbo jets will be able to take off and land at the airport.

The new runway, along with the T-3 terminal, is the most important project within the Plan Málaga, the almost one billion euro airport improvement scheme to modernise aviation infrastructure in Malaga. The opening of the second runway will mark the culmination of the ambitious scheme, vital to cope with the increase in passengers expected over the coming decades. The scheme also included the new train station and railway tunnel, improved road access and the extended car park.