The Ministry of Public Works, Territorial Articulation and Housing has awarded Lantania for 4,190,856 euros for the comprehensive expansion and remodeling works on the Marbella to Istán highway (A-7176). This work will solve the road safety problems that the road suffered due to its narrowness, since it has a roadway width of less than six meters without shoulders, which made it difficult for cars and cyclists to coexist, especially in a section that is fully integrated into the city.
The transformation of this urban stretch of nearly two kilometers will be launched thanks to the collaboration agreement signed by the Minister of Public Works, Marifrán Carazo, and the Mayor of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz, by which the co-financing commitment was sealed: the Junta de Andalucía assumes 60 percent of the cost, while the remaining 40 percent will correspond to the Marbella City Council. “Dialogue and institutional collaboration have been essential to carry out an intervention that not only integrates this road into the urban fabric, but also ostensibly improves road safety for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.”
The project includes hard shoulders 1.5 meters wide, the rectification of its longitudinal profile and the construction of four roundabouts to regulate traffic, reduce speed and improve road safety at existing intersections. Also, perimeter sidewalks will be built on both sides of 2.5 meters wide.
Transversal drainage works will also be carried out to improve the hydraulic operation, with the expansion of the existing masonry in the Arroyo del Tejar by means of prefabricated frames and in the substitution of two masonry works of two natural runoffs. On the other hand, action will be taken on the drainage of the platform and its margins through the provision on both sidewalks and next to the curb line, of grid and mailbox-type drains. Lastly, ditches will be included on the margins at the foot of the clearings to prevent water from reaching the sidewalks.
This work will be completed with the installation of public lighting, underground electrical energy under the pavement and an irrigation and gardening network. Trees will also be incorporated with the planting of palm trees along the route, in addition to new horizontal and vertical signage, beaconing devices and protection measures.
The award of the works, which will have an execution period of twelve months, represents the definitive step for an action in which steps have been taken throughout the last legislature. First, a protocol was agreed between the Ministry of Public Works and the Marbella City Council to jointly address the road safety problems detected on the A-7176 in the section from the intersection with the old N-340 national road to the junction with the Mediterranean motorway (A-7). Subsequently, a construction project was drawn up that was presented at the end of July last year together with the signing of the agreement between the two administrations, which gave guarantees for the financing of the work.