They cut traffic between Cuesta Blanca and Perín to claim roads
“If we demonstrate today it is because our roads are in a shameful state. Having decent communication channels is a right rather than a claim». The feeling of José Luis García, a neighbor who lives in Perín all his life, is the same as that of the rest of the residents of the western area of Cartagena. And for this reason, this Sunday, more than a hundred of them took to the streets to “demand” the urgent repair of at least half a dozen that are in a “dire” state of conservation.
The protest was on the RM-E26 that runs from Cuesta Blanca, through Los Victorias, La Corona and Perín to the RM-22 of Isla Plana and La Azohía. It has been fixed in part, but “there is an area where two cars barely fit, and the worst thing is when we come face to face with a truck or a school bus, we have to get onto the terraces or look for another area to get out of the way, because there aren’t even any hard shoulders,” said José Críspulo Agüera, another Perín resident.
The protest ran over a stretch of the road of about 300 meters. Neighbors cut off traffic for half an hour using banners that read: “Roads in very poor condition. For the safety of all, invest now” and “Bad roads worse coverage, please end this torture”. In another cover by young people it said: «We are not second-class citizens. We want first-class roads, for everyone’s safety.”
It is one of the most “busy, especially in summer, by the people who live in these towns and those of Cartagena, to go to the beaches of La Azohía and Isla Plana,” said Bartolomé Gimeno, also from Perín.
More investments in improvements
This is one of the many roads and highways that require investment, some of them urgent, to improve road safety. Among them is the RM-16, which runs from Los Carriones, passing through La Magdalena and San Isidro, to La Aljorra, and the RM-E18, which joins Pozo de los Palos to Molinos Marfagones. In it, there is a section that prevents the passage of two vehicles at the same time. “The bridge built on the highway to provide the Buenos Aires residential sewage network seems insufficient for the circulation of two vehicles, since it is barely wide enough,” explained the president of the Perín Neighborhood Board, Isa Andreu.
They also demand the cleaning up of the one that gives access from Cuesta Blanca to the Ports of Santa Bárbara; the splitting of the RM-332 from Avenida del Cantón to the AP-7; the construction of a roundabout at the intersection of the RM-E-22 with the RM-E21 from Galifa to El Portús; and the improvement of the pavement on the RM-E22 from Canteras to La Azohía, as well as that of the RM-E23 that runs from the RM-E22 to Campillo de Donde.