Where have 16 years gone? Because that is the time that has passed since the La Herradura-Taramay A-7 section was brought into use on the 28th of July, 2009.

The previous section completed was the Nerja-La Herradura in 2007 and Georg Hvizdalek (the previous owner and founder of the Gazette) was still alive and we covered it; he was the Publisher and I was the Editor. But Georg died in 2008 so it was Dave Darby as Editor and I as Publisher who covered the 2009 inauguration.

Whilst the work on the A-7 was going on, work on the A-44 to reach the coast was advancing, as well, and Dave and I were at the inauguration of the Izbor-Vélez de Benaudalla section in May 2009. This section was supposed to have been inaugurated in 2007 but had been delayed in 2006 when one of the supporting pillars of the bridge over the Rules Reservoir began to sink.

A final note on the history of the progress of the A-7 (towards Almería) was that in the mid 90s, you still had to take the N-340 as far as Adra to pick up the A-7. The last section of the autovía between Adra and Motril was not complete until 2014.

The problem with the coastal autovía in Granada was the lay of the land, because the mountains reached down to the sea, making it the most expensive province along the A-7 to construct; it was just tunnels and bridges all along the way.

In Málaga there was not such a problem and in Almería it was easier, too. Fortunately the A-44 had an easier time of it because the valleys all ran south towards the sea from the city of Granada. The main problem was crossing the Embalse de Rules and the bridges needed between Ízbor and Vélez de Benaudalla.

Returning to the section of the A-7 between La Herradura and Taramay, there are four bridges: Río Jate (365m) Río Seco (496m) Río Verde (564m) the barranco de la Cuesta or Barranco de Ítrabo (621m)

As for tunnels, there are three with a total length of nearly three kilometres: Túnel de Cantalobos (2,145m) Túnel de Calaceite (410m) Túnel de El Gato (274m).

(News: Almunecar/Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: A-7, A-44, La Herradura, Taramay, Ízbor, Vélez de Benaudalla, Adra, Tunnels, Bridges, Embalse de Rules

news, andalucia, granada, costa tropical, almunecar, la herradura, A-7, A-44, la herradura, taramay, ízbor, vélez de benaudalla, adra, tunnels, bridges, embalse de rules

Reader’s comment: “Where indeed has that time gone Martin, the late 70’s in Al Club, Mimon or Dallas…..” – Tim Davies