Benidorm proposes to FGV changes in the tunneling of Beniardá avenue to unify urbanization criteria in the area

Benidorm City Council has asked the Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Valenciana (FGV) to undertake some modifications to the solution provided for in the project for the redevelopment of the area affected by the underground works on Avenida Beniardá.

Specifically, the modifications are requested to unify the urbanization criteria and to adapt the final projected solution to improve the urban integration of the level crossing environment.

To this end, the City Council has proposed some actions. Thus, in the first place it is requested "that the same materials be adopted as those that are being used in the works that the City Council is currently carrying out in other sections of the avenue, referring to the type of pavements and models of columns and luminaires ”, as explained by the Councilor for Public Space, José Ramón González de Zárate.

To integrate the environment of the level crossing, the council is committed to converting the space generated on the roof of the underpass into "a public space for recreation, of a pedestrian nature, making the space more usable and habitable than with the solution projected by FGV would be wasted”. To avoid this, it is proposed to create landscaped areas, and pedestrian areas equipped with street furniture and to replace the asphalt pavements with more pedestrian pavements, maintaining the asphalt pavements for vehicle rolling.

Likewise, to give the environment greater relevance, the installation of a sculptural element has also been proposed to PGV. "This is a solution that is fully compatible with the tram system requested by the City Council since the decorative elements can be moved and continue to maintain visibility and safety for the tram operation of the section without a notable cost," explained González de Zárate.

The councillor added that as a complement to the urbanization, "the asphalting of a section of the park-and-ride attached to the station and the installation of underground containers" have also been requested.

On the other hand, the Councilor for Urban Scene and Mobility specified that the current bike lane will be removed from the sidewalks, transferring it to the road, thereby improving accessibility and pedestrian safety and extending the sidewalks to the beginning of the underpass next to the parking lot. "In this way, we gain accessibility and pedestrian mobility in a section that has a high pedestrian intensity due to the wide rotation of the park and ride" he pointed out.

Other proposed measures involve moving the pedestrian-cyclist crossing from the intersection with Capitán Cortés Street given its excessive proximity to the exit of the underpass, as well as suppressing the elevated central reservation of the underpass, leaving it at the same level as the road and separating both directions of traffic using horizontal signage”.