The Orihuela Costa has had a road safety park for almost 20 years, although very few know of it’s existence because in all that time it has remained unopened and unused.
The purpose of the park, when originally constructed, was to teach local schoolchildren aspects of road safety and the rules of the road but never in all the time that it has been built has the educational site ever seen any visits from the children it was intended to serve.
Located in Punta Prima, the urbanisation of La Ciñuelica, between single-family houses and low-rise buildings, the road safety park was built on a green area, between calle Almohabenos and JH Alhamed.
As it continues to remain unfenced it tends to be used mainly by children on their bikes as they ride around the circular tarmac roads over the stop and directional signs painted on the ground, which are still visible despite their abandonment. However, there are no vertical signs and the asphalting in some sections of the track is very poor. There are no traffic lights, pedestrian crossings or roundabouts so many of the aspects that the children need to know about are missing.
Many parents, however, still take their kids along to the park where they can enjoy a safe environment on which to practise their riding skills, without being subjected to the dangers of the roads, but without any directional signposting to the site it can be difficult to find for first time users.
Weeds and trees are now abundant in the areas between the tarmac roads although, every once in a while, once a year or so, the council do go along and give it a cursory clean.
But now the Federation of Associations of the Coast (FAOC) has requested that the Department of Public Safety refurbish the road safety park and use it for the purpose for which it was originally built.
The letter, detailing all of the park’s deficiencies, was also sent to the councillors for Public Safety and Traffic, Mariola Rocamora, and of services for the Coast, Luisa Boné.
Federation President, Tomás Moreno, demands that the government allocates a budget to undertake the necessary repairs to make the road safety park viable once again. “The investment that was originally made has been squandered once and we are going to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”
