(This article was originally published in October 2009 and is visible now so that readers can look at what was happening on the Costa Tropical back then.)

Just when we thought it was safe to scoot around Motril free of roadworks earlier this year, we suddenly had the Avenida de Salobreña cordoned off without much prior warning.

What we thought would take a month or two to renovate the streets has turned into a prolonged nightmare for many residents and businesses in the centre of town and which will cost a little over two million euros. What is worse is that work is not due to end until late March 2010.

The work that is taking place includes new mains drainage, telecommunications systems, buried rubbish containers, electricity cabling and a total facelift of pavements, trees, etc. Gone are the fruit trees outside the Guardia Civil building and the fabulous trees that gave the Avenida such a lot of character over many years.

It is not only the Avenida de Salobreña that has come under the might of the digger but also many of the side streets around the mercado municipal. We have spoken to several shop owners who have been badly inconvenienced by the road works on their doorsteps and it seems that there is no compensation from the Council available to businesses that lose trade through the ongoing disruption. You would have thought a cut in business rates might have applied?

So, in what has proven to be a difficult financial year, with la crisis generally they get a double whammy (hit) thrown at them (oh, and let’s not forget the 40% hike in rubbish removal rates on top). The Avenida de Salobreña has looked like an obstacle course, only fit for off-road bikers to enjoy for the past six months. What was once a very pleasant tree-lined avenue looks like the Terminator crash landed in Motril … with plenty of railings and signs added telling you to go this way or that. The housewives living in apartments directly overlooking the road works are probably all having nervous breakdowns at the amount of daily cleaning they have to do keeping the dust out of their homes.

(News: Motril, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)