Benidorm reorganizes traffic for the burial works on Beniardá avenue and configures alternative itineraries

Benidorm City Council has reorganized the traffic entering and exiting Benidorm while the burying works of Beniardá Avenue last, whose upper part will be closed to traffic on September 12 for an approximate period of 10 months. The mayor, Toni Pérez, has pointed out that "it is the main entrance artery to Benidorm, through which more than 30,000 vehicles enter or leave the city every day, so its closure affects the mobility of the entire city" since this traffic flow must be derived to "the alternative routes that have been established by the City Council in coordination with those responsible for the work."

Toni Pérez has transferred these considerations in an informative meeting to which the emergency services have been summoned to address the details of the traffic reorganization and in which the participants have been summoned to send the City Council the proposals for improvement that estimate. A meeting was attended by the Councilor for Mobility and Works, José Ramón González de Zárate; representatives of the Local Police, National Police, Civil Guard, Firefighters, Health, Red Cross, urban bus, school transport and taxi sector; municipal technicians from the areas of Mobility, Citizen Security and Education; as well as the optional address.

As explained at the meeting, 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. The mayor of Mobility has advanced that "these alternative itineraries are going to be marked on both roads well in advance so that drivers have all the information and can use them."

Additionally, 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 through Aigüera Avenue and Orxeta Street, exit to Beniardá Avenue. De Zárate has indicated that "to configure this itinerary it is necessary to carry out a series of adaptation works, which will begin on August 22." For the exclusive use of residents will be the Beniardá park and ride.

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.

The mayor has stressed that “we know that this burying work on Beniardá Avenue is necessary and will mean a significant improvement for mobility once it is completed. But we are well aware that its development is enormously complex and will entail many difficulties and disruption for the city, for the residents and for the workers who commute to Benidorm daily”.

Hence, "as many possible alternatives have been proposed to try to ensure that traffic flows in the best possible way and that an attempt has been made to provide all possible resources for residents, both at the level of access and parking".

Toni Pérez has once again asked neighbours and drivers for “a lot of understanding, patience and an extra effort, this is a work to solve a problem that we have had for a long time and that has been aggravated by the changes made in the last five years in rail mobility.
Likewise, he has clarified that "the proposed devices and solutions are open to changes, both for the contributions that the different groups can make and for the behaviour that the traffic is having."

In this regard, he has advanced that "next Tuesday in an informative commission, the municipal technicians will explain the reorganization of traffic to the members of the Corporation so that they can make contributions." In the same way, “soon the neighbours will also be summoned to transfer all the details and listen to their suggestions”.

In addition to this meeting with the Neighborhood Council, also in the coming weeks ", a specific one will be held to determine how school transport will be organized during the works on Beniardá Avenue."

Burial works

The works to bury and remove the level crossing on Beniardá avenue have a budget of 5.2 million euros and are financed by the European Union through the Next Generation funds. Although initially, the execution period was 16 months, it has finally been reduced to 10 so that the works do not affect the high season of 2023.

To reduce the duration of the works, the upper part of the avenue will be closed to vehicular traffic during the entire duration of the works, and occasionally also to the TRAM. In any case, the redevelopment work would continue later without affecting in this case the passage of vehicles on the avenue.

The new underpass will have a typical section with two lanes in each direction with a central median, while the itineraries for cyclists and pedestrians will remain on the surface. In turn, the action will culminate with the execution of secondary service lanes that allow access to the station street, private plots and the municipal park and ride located next to the Benidorm station.