The Development delegate has together with the mayor visited this new infrastructure executed by the Development Regional Ministry
Works on the new Mojácar Interchange, Development Regional Ministry, Territory and Housing Interaction, have been completed. This infrastructure, which has been executed on a 5,607sqm plot on the Avenida de Andalucía (AL-6111), which is the road which connects the historic centre of the municipality with the coastal development, has consisted of the construction of an Interchange with capacity for four buses to stop at the same time and an adjoining waiting and services building.
The Development delegate, Carmen Belén López Zapata, and Mojácar Mayor, Rosa María Cano and the councillor attached to the mayor’s office, Francisco García, have visited the Interchange and have toured these new facilities. López Zapata highlighted “the commitment of the Andalucía government, which has backed Mojácar with new facilities like this Interchange, together with others like the new health centre, actions on water matters and the Mojácar bypass.”
The Mayor of this Levante locality thanked “the push forward that the Junta de Andalucía is giving to the main projects of Mojácar, that are becoming a reality thanks to the government of Juanma Moreno”.
The functional structure of the interchange is made up of four bays for buses of 15 metres in length and includes the provision of the services necessary to ensure proper operation, as well as a rectangular 50sqm building which houses the toilets and offices, as well as a waiting hall. The building is one floor, allowing access for users with reduced mobility. Likewise, a metal canopy has been built next to the bus bays to give a greater shaded area which makes waiting for the arrival of buses more pleasant. The design sets out an irregular construction with the approximate shape of a triangle. It will be open on all sides and the roof curved. It is completed by a taxi rank and urban bus stop in the surroundings to guarantee access for users and the intermodality of the area. In the coming weeks the formal reception of the works will be carried out, from which time it will be Mojácar Council which is responsible for the management and maintenance of this new station based on the collaboration agreement signed on the 9th December 2021 in the Mobility General Directorate between the Development Regional Ministry, Territory and Housing Interaction and Mojácar Council.
This new bus interchange will allow for the provision of this public inter-urban transport service in an appropriate way, guaranteeing the safety of the population while getting on and off the buses, protecting users from outside temperatures and inclement weather, preventing bus manoeuvrability problems and improving the organisation of traffic in the municipality. Its centralised location between the historic centre and the coastal development, its direct access to the main artery which unites the two centres, the AL-6111 road, and due to being close to the roundabout that connects with the Mojácar bypass, an artery, the purpose of which is to relieve traffic congestion on the Paseo Marítimo, at the same time as providing rapid and direct access from the village, connecting it with the A-7 Mediterranean Motorway.
This action is within the framework of one of the major objectives of the Development Regional Ministry, Territory and Housing Interaction, to improve the quality of passenger transport services by road, through, among other measures, the construction, reform and modernisation of interchanges, bus stations and access points to the transport network, in coordination with the affected local administrations. In this way, it contributes to raising the quality of life in the cities of Andalucía and to facilitating the connection and integration of the different areas of the territory.
The municipality of Mojácar, has a population of close to 7,000 inhabitants, a population that in the summer season increases to 40,000 inhabitants. Its economic base is mixed, supported by intensive agriculture and tourism, the service sector clearly being predominant in Mojácar municipality.
Currently making a stop in Mojácar municipality are the autonomous concessions VJA-151: “ALMERÍA AND LÍJAR WITH EXTENSION TO SIERRO AND CHIRIVEL” and VJA-031: “GARRUCHA ZURGENA STATION WITH EXTENSION TO MOJÁCAR AND HIJUELAS”, which allow this municipality to be linked with other towns in the province, such as Almería capital and Huércal-Overa, with the rest of the provinces of Andalucía and with the other intermediate municipalities on these routes. Likewise, these routes are joined with other interprovincial and state routes, the coordinated services between the aforementioned VJA-151 line and the VAC-229: “ALMERÍA – MURCIA” and another between the VAC-229 and the VAC-055: “MADRID- ALICANTE WITH HIJUELAS”.
Together all these routes, on any working week, add up to more than 40 bus trips. A number that increases on some routes at certain times of the year, such as the summertime, given the tourist nature of the region and of Mojácar municipality itself, which attracts people from other provinces and communities.
Despite the high volume of travellers using public road transport, Mojácar municipality did not have a specific facility to serve as a meeting point between public transport users and buses. Access to the interurban public transport service by road in Mojácar municipality is at various stops distributed throughout the municipality. The Development Regional Ministry, Territory and Housing Interaction has fulfilled the objective of providing Mojácar municipality with this centralised infrastructure that guarantees access to buses in the necessary conditions of safety, equity and intermodality.
This action is co-financed by the European Union, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), with a co-financing rate of 80% and framed within the Andalucía 2014-2020 FEDER Operational Programme, with a total expected investment of 686,300.00€, distributed between the project and other technical documents and the effective execution of the works.
