So here we are, returned to a situation of 20 years ago that we thought would not repeat itself; Rules Bridge closed because a pillar is sinking.
Of course, it is a perfect opportunity for politicians to score points, so unsurprisingly the conservative Mayors of Almuñécar and Motril have recriminated roundly the socialist Central Government, yet they appear to have forgotten that the bridge was built… when the PP were the Central Government.
No, you can’t blame this on any one party, but rather on both of them because between them they alternated in power from when the blueprints were drawn up for putting a bridge over the reservoir, anchored onto hillsides, until the present day, so they both knew that it was on unstable hillside.
If anybody has the right to whinge, then it is the Asociación de Empresarios de La Costa Tropical, who see an economic blow to the goolies for the coast with this main artery out of action.
What is also extremely irritating for this coastal association is that there was no warning about a pending closure, but rather just a blurted statement less than a week before the bridge being closed off to traffic, meaning that anybody venturing down to the coast or back up would have to use the sagging GR-323, which now looks like a roller-coaster given how much the road is subsiding — the extra weight of traffic is going to exasperate this.
Alternatively, take a packed lunch and a 3-day camel trip along the A-348 to Órgiva (which is in itself undergoing roadworks) then the A-346 to Vélez de Benaudalla, where they can pick up the autovía again.
The A-4050 Cabra Road is only any good if you’re going to Almuñécar or west of it, plus the fact that there is a very good reason the early morning bus from Órgiva to Granada is known locally as the Vomit Comet…. Just saying!
The Chairman of the Asociación de Empresarios de La Costa Tropical, Javier Rubiño, grumbled, “The administrations haven’t acted coordinately nor with prevision,” adding, “In other countries, they do this in just weeks, working round-the-clock in shifts, whereas here everything drags on.”
In other countries, he might have added, they wouldn’t have built the bloody bridge there in the first place knowing the instability of the hillsides (Cármenes del Mar, anybody).
Let’s face it, even the dam wall was plonked down in the wrong place, right on top of a fault line, and had to be shifted to its present location. In the meantime, just keep your fingers crossed that the N-323 doesn’t decide to have a midnight dip in the reservoir…
(Opinion: Velez de Benaudalla Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)
Keywords: Rules Bridge, Road Closures, AECOST, Unstable Foundations, Economic Distruptions, A-4050 Cabra, A-346, A-348, Orgiva, Almunecar
news, andalucia, granada, costa tropical, velez de benaudalla, rules bridge, road closures, aecost, unstable foundations, economic distruptions, A-4050 cabra, A-346, A-348, orgiva, almunecar