Toni Pérez: “It is not the work that Benidorm needs and has been demanded; It is a definitive work, in its execution, but not the definitive one in our aspiration”

Yesterday afternoon, the Department of Mobility organized an explanatory meeting in the Assembly Hall of Benidorm City Council to find out the details of the project for the partial burial of Beniardá Avenue, as well as the details of the process affecting traffic cuts, alternative itineraries and the final result of the works.

From the Engineering Area, the technicians Óscar Orozco and Juan Carlos Sánchez Galiano developed and explained to the fifty attendees the details of the project and articulation of the road system that will enable the new entrances to Benidorm through Levante and Poniente, as well as the traffic measures that will be implemented, the dissuasive car parks arranged for this reason and the planned planning of the works.

The burial works will entail the cutting of Beniardá avenue from Capitan Cortés street to the water treatment station roundabout. For this reason, as of September 12, vehicles travelling on the CV-70 and the N-332 must access Benidorm mainly through Juan Pablo II avenues in the Poniente area and Comunidad Europea in the Levante area. These alternative itineraries, as already announced by the Councilor for Mobility José Ramón González de Zárate, will be signposted on both roads well in advance so that drivers have all the information and can use them.

Additionally, it was explained at the meeting and was advanced by the councillor, that residents and emergency vehicles will be able to access Benidorm through the Camino del Llandero, which will be configured as a one-way entrance. From Italia Street, vehicles will be able to travel to Virgen del Rocío Street, which will become a two-way street, and from there via Aigüera Avenue and Orxeta Street to reach Beniardá Avenue. Since August 22, actions have been carried out to have this road device operational. The Beniardá park and ride will continue to be open to all types of users and will have a new distribution of mobility, with entrance and exit from the north.

To speed up traffic as much as possible on the part of Beniardá Avenue that remains operational, a temporary roundabout will be created at the confluence of Beniardá and Capitán Cortés. In addition, another will be created to facilitate access to the park and ride from the CV-70.

Mayor Toni Pérez welcomed those attending the meeting, who also made a reminder of the process on "a layout of more than a hundred years ago that has been modulating different versions without changing the layout" that has led to this action that although “In 2015 we saw the tramway project that arrived at the Benidorm Station and should continue to Altea as exciting” by changing the modality in 2017, it has generated a delay in the procedure. Pérez declared himself "against establishing more fractures in the urban fabric and for" being in favour of burying the train track and not for burying circulation."

The mayor told the residents present that this "is not the work that Benidorm needs and has demanded" in reference to the request for the burying of the tracks in the face of the proposal to bury the circulation, noting that "it is a definitive work in its execution, but not the definitive one in our aspiration”. He warned of the consequences and need for the execution considering that it is "an opportunity to solve a problem, even if it is not the definitive work in the aspirations of the city", and asked for collaboration and understanding, recalling that these actions "impose deficiencies in the fluidity of the traffic” and recalled the recent example of the CV70, executed by the Generalitat Valenciana, to remove the central hedge.

Pérez recalled that “Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat has provided facilities in Benidorm to develop its infrastructures and now we have a work underway awarded for its completion in 16 months that we have negotiated its execution within a period of 10 months, with a reduction of six months ”. The mayor explained that the plan for the action contemplated "at least one summer and two holy weeks, even a second summer, and we negotiated to develop it in ten months, starting next Monday, September 12", highlighting the previous work undertaken. The objective, the mayor specified, is "to concentrate the execution of the work to cause the least impact on neighbours and the city as a whole."

Beniardá avenue, Pérez pointed out, comes to register points of almost 36,000 vehicles per day, "which makes it the urban road with the highest traffic load" for which an alternative entrance and exit road has been arranged, "with special attention to residents, such as the proposal for the Llandero path” and the alternative parking device.

Toni Pérez pointed out that the components of “traffic, security, emergencies, school and urban transport, as well as basic services” have been taken into account in the device, asking the neighbours for “patience and understanding so that after these months we can reach a better city.”. He insisted that an effort from everyone is necessary for these months and recalled the advantages of travel on foot and in public service that a city like Benidorm offers, pointing out the will to complete the work in the agreed period.

The mayor thanked the presence in the act and pointed out the work as "a great opportunity to radically change a road towards mobility and a better city".

In the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lenyZvCxUbk the informative session of yesterday afternoon can be consulted.