The regional government maintains that regional roads are affected by flooding “because water invades them from channels that overflow and prevent circulation.” It considers that most of the inconveniences and traffic cuts that occur in episodes of intense rain “are caused by factors unrelated” to the roads, and suffer damage that deteriorates their conditions more quickly.
The Ministry of Public Works recalls that in recent years it has made “a significant investment effort” to carry out the repair of the damage caused by DANA in 2019, unprecedented to date, which affected 93 points of the regional network of roads, and meant that some improvements had to be relegated in order to undertake these repairs worth 12.7 million. The last two larger projects are currently underway: the RM-F26 highway in Torre Pacheco, and the Mar Menor dual carriageway.
In addition to these investments, he explains that it has allocated 9.1 million to 24 municipalities so that they can improve a total of 70 kilometers of regionally owned crossings, which over the years and the growth of the municipalities have become routes of local character with traffic of an eminently urban nature. With the Regional Plan for Safe Crossings, he intends to improve sixty urban sections of regional highways, he added.
‘safe crossings’
The consistories will be able to allocate the regional investment to the conditioning and repair of the pavement, complete resurfacing and renovation of horizontal or vertical signage. These actions may be complemented by the municipalities with others aimed at improving or modernizing these urban roads, explains the department of Díez de Revenga. “This important investment is an example of our commitment to municipalism as a means of facilitating and accelerating the provision of more and better services by municipalities, in order to make journeys by car through these crossings more comfortable and safer”, informs the Council.
The 3,000 kilometers of the regional road network are divided into three levels: dual carriageways and highways, inter-county itineraries and rural roads that connect small towns. The daily average intensity ranges between 7,000 and 1,700 vehicles, depending on the type of road and demand. The investments in upkeep and maintenance are complemented by other actions included in the Road Safety Plan, which has identified 33 black spots distributed over 24 roads that concentrate the highest number of accidents.
The damage caused by the 2019 DANA, which is still being repaired, does not obviate the existence of structural defects on some roads, which worsen with the rains, such as the Zeneta-San Javier highway, which requires continuous repairs.
Last year eleven works were completed with a total investment of 12.3 million, such as the Torreciega bridge, the anti-noise screens in the Ronda Transversal and the roundabouts of Viña del Mar and Caballito de La Manga, in Cartagena; the crossing of Cehegín; the Miguel Ángel Blanco avenue and the improvement of the accesses to the Los Urreas industrial estate, in San Javier; the improvement of Camino de los Soldados and access to the West Industrial Estate, in Alcantarilla; the underpass of the Lorca-Águilas highway; the renovation of the Puerto Lumbreras-Almendricos highway; the urban section of what is known as the Caravaca highway; the reinforcement of the pavement of a section of the Lorca-Águilas highway and repainting of the entire road.
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