A-7 and N-340 among Spain's most dangerous roads, says new report

SPAIN A report by the Royal Automobile Club of Catalonia (RACC in its Spanish acronym) says that the Ministry of Development's budget for road maintenance has been reduced by 38% since 2009. The same report says that if the investment were doubled, the social cost of accidents would drop by 20%. The maths are simple: present investment is €31,662 per kilometre, almost half of that social cost, which averages €64,182/km. The RACC has published a roadmap of the social costs that applies cost-benefit formulae, which is applied for similar studies in Germany, among other countries. Social costs are>>>

More on Jimena entrance roadworks: there are idiots all over the place...

JIMENA Walking down to the office this morning, we came across two men working on the newly concreted bit of road under repair. They were mumbling about idiot drivers. Fortunately we understand Spanish mumbling: someone had driven over the fresh cement last night, having first removed the barrier at the top of the road. They had driven down onto the fresh concrete, where they stopped, creating a track mark into the concrete that will take a day or two to be set right. By the time we got back with a camera, he man in the photograph had already patched up one of the idiot's tracks, and he was complaining that whatever he did, it would always be a patch. At least he cared! We were also told that there was going to be a speed bump right there where he's working, which might just stop a few of the idiot drivers around. (Another photo below)>>>

Reader's comment about road into Jimena

JIMENA (Via Facebook from Sabi Tong on Jimena People) You cannot exit the Jimena down the hill this morning, you have to go all the way round, down the leap of faith etc...but cars CAN come in the normal way (well, on the other side of the road...)" Thanks, Sabi. CampoPulse just spoke to local police and was told they will be tarmacking the other -right- side tomorrow, Thursday. So things will be more or less as they are today.

Jimena entrance road to get emergency repairs

(Photo: europasur.es)

JIMENA Anyone driving up the hill into the main village will have noticed a dip in the road that seems to get worse every day. The Council announced this morning that emergency repairs will be getting under way very soon and the road is likely to be closed while work is being done. In the meantime, there is now a weight restriction of 5 tons on that section of road. Entrance to the village is now by the 'middle road' or by the campsite. Regular line buses and school buses can no longer use this stretch, which is only about 50 metres from the A-405 crossroad, so passengers and students have to disembark at the bottom of the road, right by the old silo and the new Local Police station. The cause:>>>

Jimena and San Pablo roads to be improved

Forty kilometers of roads to undergo works - but when?

JIMENA (Press release) The provincial road authorities announced on Monday that tenders are being invited for improvements to roads on the northern part of the Campo de Gibraltar. More specifically, these are the CA-8201 that runs from Jimena to Puerto Galis (known as the Ubrique road), a stretch of 18kms, and the CA-8200, which goes from San Pablo de Buceite to San Martín del Tesorillo, some 22kms. How these are to be financed is not made clear in the press release we saw, but if the present economic climate is anything to go by, we wonder when exactly work might be scheduled to begin - and end. These roads have been under the magnifying glass of various ministries and local government entities for a number of years, so please allow us, and you, a pinch of salt.

Roadworks close access to town

Click to enlarge

LOS BARRIOS Work began this morning on the central access road to the town. With a budget of €30,000 it is expected to be finished in approximately one month. Thus the road that goes from the bullfighter's hat roundabout to  the roundabout by the A-381 was closed as from 8.30 this morning. The other two access roads will remain open to traffic: From the Santa Rosa area and the old road, that is the entrance from the Ruta del Toro.

New bus stop and underground rubbish containers for Los Ángeles

JIMENA (Press release) The image shows Councillor Juana Jiménez meeting with Road Demarcation personnel and technical spervisors of Arcgisa on the corner known as la curva de Ramos, which is a bend on the A-405 road coming through Estación (or Los Ángeles). The area is prone to flooding and the Council is looking for solutions to what can be a dangerous stretch of road. Also, the bus stop is to be moved as requested by the bus company, so that it is easier to stop, load ad unload passengers, which frequently creates traffic problems. The present bus stop area will be used to install underground rubbish containers, which work is already under way.

North Access to remain closed for another 15 days

ALGECIRAS (Agencies) The local representative of the Ministry of Development, in charge of repairing the road, residents and drivers in and around Algeciras will have to continue to use diversions around the North Access to the town. The road is undergoing repairs caused by the damage from the extraordinarily heavy rains of last Sunday. Work has been going on for four days now, including underpinning of the road itself, plus filling in, among other things. Given that a large part of the work involves concreting underneath as well as on top, re-opening of the road will depend on how soon it sets.

Traffic chaos as North entrance is closed again

ALGECIRAS (Agencies/Photo: EuropaSur) Traffic during the rush hour this morning was brought almost to a standstill because emergency repairs had to be carried out at the North entrance to town. The road repair crew thjat depends on the Ministry of Development, decided to close off both lanes of the access road for safety as they had been sent to repair a sinkage that appeared recently. It brought back memories of a similar situation at the beginning of last summer, when another sinkage nearby collapsed and closed the road, too. The Council was quick to point out that this hole has nothing to do with the previous one; in trhis case, the sinkhole has caused damage not only to the road but also to neighbouring homes. To get into town or leave from El Rinconcillo, take a detour via the middle roundabout and the A-7 road.

Intown roadworks will impact traffic flow

ALGECIRAS (Agencies) Roadworks will be carried out on several streets of the town, for which traffic will have to change direction on several of them. For a start, Calle Trafalgar will be closed between Pablo Mayayo and Alfonso XI; access will be allowed only to residents with the entrance at Avenida Blas Infante (photo). Traffic on Alfonso XI will therefore circulate in the opposite direction between Blas Infante and Coronel Ceballos, and in both directions from the latter to Trafalgar. The work being carried out on Plaza Virgen de la Palma, where the Ingeniero Torroja market is, will be closed to vehicles from 9 this morning, Monday. ASs from tomorrow, Tuesday, entrance and exit for the market will be on Calle Ojo del Muelle, as exit from Calle Pescadería will be closed off. (See map here)

Roadworks begin on Calle Yustos; Romo is almost finished

JIMENA (Press release) Work began earlier this week on Calle Yustos (photo) while that on Romo is almost concluded and the street expected to be open to traffic again very soon. Similarly to the latter and that on Calle Sevilla last year, the aim is to replace the old sewer and water pipes with new ones. This means that Yustos is now closed to traffic, as are all the road's accesses to garages. The Council apologises for the inconvenience.

Tunnel work to be restarted in March

GIBRALTAR (GBC) Work on the airport tunnel will be restarted in March after engineering issues forced  the initial plans to be reviewed. The work, which was tendered to a Spanish company in 2008, is aimed at stopping vehicles from crossing the runway. The main access road will thus be diverted along Devil's Tower Road to the junction with Eastern Beach Road, where a roundabout will then direct traffic North through Aerial Farm, then through another tunnel, to emerge parallel to the Frontier via a tunnel beneath the new airport teminal, although work on the Spanish side is nowhere near started. From here drivers can choose to cross the Frontier or head for the new terminal, North Front or Winston Churchill Avenue. The new road, including the tunnel will contain four lanes, two each way, and the runway crossing will be used only in emergencies.

North access road to reopen this weekend, weather permitting

ALGECIRAS The northern access to the town, which was under repair since a part of it sank into a drainage course last winter, is scheduled to be reopened this weekend, according to sources. The only impediment would be the weather, which is forecast as raining heavily. Work has been carried out almost continually since the incident, and is now in  its last stages, when a giant PVC tube was inserted in the space previously carved out for it.

Tesorillo road under repairs, but what's the priority?

JIMENA The A-2101 that joins Jimena (A-405) with San Martín del Tesorillo is presently undergoing repairs thanks to work being carried out by the provincial road authorities. Most of the work is being done in the stretches of the road that are nearest the Hozgarganta River. However, it would seem much more logical, a) to do something about the river undermining the road rather than about the road itself; b) make the road inaccessible to enormous lorries and heavy machinery that constantly threaten to run ordinary drivers off the road; and c) to widen the road by at least two meters. This must be one of the most dangerous roads in the Campo de Gibraltar and is best avoided.

How to get lost in Jimena!

Further to a recent JP item on the subject (that included what we think is an approximately accurate map), our good friends at TioJimeno have saved us the trouble of walking up to photograph this 'road map' - we wouldn't dare take the car! The map is headed ATENCION: INCIDENCIAS POR OBRAS, which must be bureaucratese for WATCH IT! But we'll translate TioJimeno's article (loosely ,but agreeing with everything it says, and more): "If someone from outsde Jimena tries to obtain information from this, they'll have a job. To start with it says Calle Autoridad Portuaria is closed (they'd have to look up Google Maps to find this street as it isn't on any SatNav system - note: nor, for that matter, on JP's Google Maps either), referring to what we on JP know as 'the ski slope'.>

Gibraltar Eastern Beach gets under way

GIBRALTAR (Source & image: Gib Chronicle) The Government is this week starting a major civil works project at Eastern Beach Road, to lay new, essential underground utility infrastructure, and to refurbish, beautify and landscape the whole of Eastern Beach Road. The project is scheduled to take nine months. A Government spokesman has assured that the beach will operate normally next summer. The new dual carriageway to the new tunnel under the airfield at Eastern Beach travels parallel to Eastern Beach Road itself. Accordingly Eastern Beach Road will remain, as at present for the beach, access to homes and businesses in the area, and general circulation.>

Roadworks begin in centre of Castellar

CASTELLAR
Work on the renovation of sewage pipes on two main streets of Castellar. Phase 1 is on Alférez León Esquivel, at the entrance to the village, from the fountain roundabout to Calle Chapatal. The next section to be worked is all along Calle España. These roadworks, carried out by Arcgisa, will impact on local traffic, but are expected to last only a few days, according to a council press release.