Beaches completes the replacement of the two footbaths in Poniente damaged after the October storm

The Department of Beaches of the Benidorm City Council finished this morning's first hour with the replacement of two of the footbaths on Poniente Beach that were damaged during the storm last October. The replacement has been carried out after the Provincial Coast Service has authorized the action. In this sense, the councillor of the area, Mónica Gómez, has explained that "work has been done on the footbaths that had the most damage, of which one of them has been out of service for all these months waiting to be replaced." Gómez has indicated that "the action has been carried out at night to affect as little as possible the ordinary activity of the beach, which in these days of August is very busy."

To facilitate the action as much as possible, the section of Avenida Armada Española between Jaime I and Xixo has remained closed to traffic for about six hours, between midnight and 06.00 hours today Thursday. The Department of Mobility had informed that while the cut lasted, access to vehicles with an entrance would be allowed in this section. The rest of the cars had to access Poniente from Avenida Vicente Pérez Devesa.

The head of Beaches has asked for “apologies” from residents and tourists “for any possible inconvenience that this night-time action may have caused”; and has clarified that “it was decided to replace these footbaths in the middle of the high season to reinforce the service in this specific section of the beach, postponing until later the pending action on the other footbath, which was also damaged in the storm but is operational”.

Gómez recalled that in January the City Council presented a project to remove the three footbaths located in the narrowest section of Poniente beach, in the vicinity of the Les Fontanelles spring and move their position to an area closer to the promenade to protect them from possible coastal phenomena. This project included the repair of the damaged devices.

Shortly before the San José long weekend and Easter, given that the Ministry had not yet authorised this project, the City Council sought a temporary solution to at least put the footbaths into service. After some adaptation work, two could be put into operation, leaving the third, the most damaged, out of service. Now, two of them have just been replaced; and the remaining one, which is active, will be replaced later.