City Council and ONCE, working together on the accessibility improvement project on Alfonso Puchades Avenue

Benidorm City Council, through its Department of Urban Scene, is nearing completion of the work carried out over the past month on Alfonso Puchades Avenue to improve accessibility for people with visual impairments. This project was developed in collaboration with the Spanish National Organization of the Blind (ONCE), following their guidance and advice to achieve the best possible accessibility.

This morning, the Councilor for Urban Scene, Francis Muñoz, visited the site accompanied by the director of ONCE in Benidorm, Vicente Vázquez, and technical staff to inspect the progress of the project, which is now in its final stages. They toured the newly installed tactile paving, designed to guide and facilitate the movement of people with visual impairments. This type of paving guides these individuals using directional or alert markings, as it has a specific textured surface to help them orient themselves.

Thus, in addition to contrasting colors against the rest of the pavement for people with low vision, it features other raised patterns such as dots or lines that can be perceived while walking on it without needing to see, and can also be felt with the cane of blind people as they walk.

The tactile paving for alerts includes raised circles so that people with visual impairments can be aware of a risk, a change of direction, or a stop. The directional paving is created with parallel raised straight lines that guide the person along the path, forming very useful pathways.

The work on Alfonso Puchades has affected a total of six pedestrian crossings and intersections, as Councilor Francis Muñoz explained during the visit. The project, which focuses primarily on people with visual impairments, has also aimed to improve universal accessibility, Muñoz emphasized.

In addition to installing this paving, the work also included pedestrian crossings with curb extensions to improve visibility and vehicle traffic flow. Muñoz also stated that the new paving complies with current accessibility regulations, “as we have been doing in Benidorm for the past ten years.” The councilor reiterated the local government’s “firm commitment” to achieving universal accessibility throughout the city, “as demonstrated by the large number of projects we have carried out in this regard in recent years across the municipality.”