When summer comes, the main road in Arenales del Sol is stuck in traffic all the time. Try to help with the obvious lack of parking in the seaside district as much as you can. Elche City Council has a tough job ahead of them. They want to start remodelling Avenida San Bartolomé de Tirajana in mid-November. This will make the main road one-way only (towards Santa Pola and Alicante) to cut down on traffic and add about 40% more parking from the northern part, at the intersection with Calle Isla de Menorca, to the first intersection at number 52, a stretch of about 1.5 kilometres.
The local PP and Vox government said in April that the parking area might be enlarged by up to 60% by changing the direction of the spaces, with some arranged in a diagonal direction. This proportion is a little lower than that.
In mid-July, the local government awarded the contract for the renovation for more than 150,000 euros. Five companies submitted bids, and the work will not begin for another month, as efforts have been made to ensure that it does not interfere with the busy season.
The specifications say that the project must be done in one month. If there are no delays or changes, it could be done before Christmas, when the district is less busy than in July and August, when it’s hard to find a free spot on the front row even in the morning.
The goal of this project is to stop these kinds of traffic jams and make sure that the city bus service runs smoothly. The report that supports these works says that the current lanes and parking spaces are too small for public transit. Residents also say that numerous cars have been damaged more than once since there wasn’t enough room for them.
Separation
The Department of Mobility said that the work will be done in stages, without blocking the whole avenue. It’s apparent that this government action will cause one of the biggest changes in Arenales del Sol in decades. This is because it would block traffic on the key road that connects Elche with Santa Pola from the coast. This has made hotel owners, shop owners, and residents doubt what will happen. Some people think it will guarantee quality, while others don’t think the traffic problem will get better because they don’t know what will happen with things like getting to garages and loading and unloading buses to provide service to Elche. Public Spaces has already said that a queue will be taken on the parallel street.
What is the blue zone?
Santiago Guijarro, who works at the Rincón de Santi restaurant, thinks the measure won’t do anything to fix the traffic problem. He suggests making a blue zone area to keep traffic moving. Some people in the industry support this policy because they know that some residents leave their cars parked for days, but the government team has ruled out this option.
“I think we’ll have to get used to the new situation,” says Francisco Piña, who runs the Akacia and Snipe restaurants. He doesn’t expect parking will get better. He thinks there are two possible outcomes: either worse traffic jams when the garbage truck or buses go by and cars can’t get through, or the opposite: drivers deciding to take different routes to escape the bottleneck, which would ease traffic on this road that goes through the hamlet.
Take away the season
Laura Fernández, who works at the Kosas fashion store, is sure that this project will benefit tourism and businesses like hers. Over the years, they have even extended their opening months since they know that customers come even outside of the main summer months.
Author: Derek Appleton
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