Along the EN125, next to Zoomarine, there are dozens and dozens of cars (poorly) parked, some already entering the carriageway. The parking lot extends for hundreds of meters, along the verges, towards Pêra or Guia, to either side. Next to the theme park, on top of the roundabout and access roads, there are cars and more cars parked.
Visitors, with children in their arms, in prams or by hand, cross the road anywhere, even in the area where there are three lanes (two going up and one going down), making real races to escape the cars that circulate on the EN125.
The situation has dragged on since the beginning of August, but apparently, Sul Informação learned, no one can do anything to prevent or discipline it.
To try to understand what is happening, our newspaper spoke with Zoomarine, with Rotas do Algarve Litoral (a consortium of companies that are the concessionaire of the EN125), with the Municipality of Albufeira and also with the GNR.
Diogo Rojão, responsible for communication at Zoomarine, says that the theme park cannot "be responsible for the conduct of the drivers" and that "the decision to park on the curb is theirs", the drivers. Ensuring that "we have greatly strengthened the car parks", he adds that "we never filled the car parks, they were never fully filled".
Diogo Rojão argues that this is an “impossible to avoid” situation, because “there are a lot of people at the same time and everyone comes at the same time”.
And, noting the situation of potential danger created, does Zoomarine intend to do some pedagogy with its visitors or give them directions? «What we could do was go to the middle of the EN125 and then we would go to jail», he jokes.
But the truth, he adds, is that the theme park management has even tried to downplay the situation. In such a way that, in the morning, at opening time, and in the afternoon, at closing time, «all the people we managed to free, including me, will help with the parking, to try to get the traffic flowing».
But many of the drivers, “instead of standing in line to get in, choose to park on the curb. Parking inside our car park is not as fast as parking at the curb. This happens at Zoomarine, as it can at the Vilamoura Marina, at a football game or at a concert», defends Diogo Rojão.
The official also adds that the fact that there are cars parked on the sidewalks, along the EN125, is not related to a possible lack of capacity in their parking facilities. Is that “the number of cars we have in the parking lot is not directly related to the parking capacity. Today we have more cars at Zoomarine than we had before and we have fewer visitors».
Diogo Rojão also guarantees that the recent works on the EN125, which have eliminated the possibility of, who leaves Zoomarine, turn left, towards Portimão, forcing all cars to turn right, to Guia, where they can then go back at the roundabout, the problem is further aggravating both traffic circulation and parking. «Zoomarine's exit time is much longer than before».
“We have the second day ticket. People who, maybe, were here last week and took an hour and a half to leave the car park, now, the second time, will think: “I go to the car park? God forbid!" And they're going to park on the curb, so they don't waste so much time going out to Portimão afterwards».
"We've already asked the authorities to come and see, we've already made complaints, but so far nobody wanted to know," concluded Diogo Rojão.
If Zoomarine claims it can do nothing, what is the position of Rotas do Algarve Litoral (RAL), the EN125 concessionaire? Rui Sousa, executive director of Grupo Rodoviário Rotas Regionalais, who owns the RAL, responds that “it is indeed up to the managing entity of the space [Zoomarine] to provide the necessary conditions to safely welcome everyone who visits that space, which should be done in agreement with the competent licensing authorities'.
On the other hand, he adds in his answer to the questions sent by the Sul Informação, “illicit/abusive parking is a matter for the Police Authorities”.
And what does the Municipality of Albufeira have to say about a situation that affects traffic and jeopardizes traffic conditions on the EN125, on the section that crosses that municipality? Cristiano Cabrita, head of the Municipality's Communication, Public Relations and International Relations Office, guarantees that “any type of complaint or information via GNR about this situation” did not reach the Chamber.
In addition, he stresses, "the situation of parking on the sidewalks must be supervised by this competent authority", that is, by the GNR.
Next push game, it remains to be seen what the GNR thinks about the matter and what it intends to do, if it has any intentions of doing anything.
Source of the GNR District Command of Faro assured the Sul Informação that “everything is being done so that, within the great influx of visitors, human life is not put at risk”.
The truth is that, as the EN125 is a national road, parking on its verges is not prohibited. Taking into account that access to Zoomarine, at the entrance or at the exit, tends to congest the road, creating long traffic jams, the GNR Traffic Detachment even has a habit of being there, trying to sort out the chaos, at the most problematic times.
The parking on the verges could end if the RAL placed vertical signs indicating the prohibition of parking there. Then, the GNR could already act, fining those who park there.
And easier access between the Zoomarine park and the EN125, for those who want to head towards Portimão, could be more fluid if there were no longer a continuous trace in that area (which, there, could create other dangerous situations) or if there was a viaduct over the road, to ensure the flow of cars, especially at the exit. But and who would pay for this viaduct?
What is certain is that, as highlighted by several of the entities contacted by the Sul Informação, «we are in an exceptional year of influx of tourists, especially in August». It remains, therefore, to pray that, until the flood passes at the end of the current month, there will not be any accident that jeopardizes the image of the region. And then…next August, a year from now, we'll probably talk about it again.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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