Compromis Territorial Senator, Carles Mulet, has requested that the State open the toll roads in the Valencian territory in the face of “the complete saturation of state-owned highways that cross the territory which are incapable of safely absorbing and channelling the additional traffic, that comes to the region during the summer holiday period, adding to that of the local population.”
He says that the situation is “unsustainable” and “dangerous” in most tourist areas “so the solution is to provide users with an alternative to the increasingly dangerous N332.
In Alicante in the municipalities such as Orihuela and Torrevieja connected by the N-332, tourists can spend over an hour to travel just a few kilometres which is totally unacceptable and where, according to a report from the Ministry of Public Works there were a total of 239 accidents in 2015
If it is possible in Lleida on the AP-2, the AP-7 in Girona, or in Tarragona, in León, Malaga or the Navalcarnero, an entrance to Madrid via the R5 on Sundays and holidays then why can the same concessions be made here on the coast where traffic becomes seriously congested during the summer, and where instead of encouraging the use of the motorway the authorities hike up the prices in order to take advantage of the incoming tourists.
The government has announced, however, that it will take control of the road, but not until 2019! At that time the tolls will be scrapped which will then see many more drivers using the AP7 and taking some of the pressure off the N332. So why can’t the move be brought forward by a couple of years we ask!
“Quite simple,” says Cayetano Portugués, spokesman for Compromís in Orihuela. “It seems that yet again, the PP government do not care about our interests or our needs.”
