The works on the EN125, in the section between Lagos and Olhão, will be ready «until January 12th», that is, until next Friday, he revealed to the Sul Informação Rui Sousa, executive director of the sub-concessionaire Rotas do Algarve Litoral (RAL), responsible for the works on the road that crosses the Algarve region.
Rui Sousa assured that only "small finishing works are in progress, namely horizontal and vertical signage, which will be completed by the 12th of January".
In other words, according to the RAL administrator, next Friday is the definitive date for the completion of the works on the road… but, from what our newspaper found yesterday, on a trip along the EN125 between the areas of Mexilhoeira Grande and Almancil , there are works off track that may still remain unfinished.
In Figueira (municipality of Portimão), the roundabout that was built to replace the dangerous crossing that used to be there. But there are still works on the sides, namely on the berm and on the new sidewalks built.
Further ahead (towards Lagos/Faro), the roundabout at the exit of Figueira has also been completed in terms of pavement, with work continuing on the side areas.
On the Penina straight, the crossing to turn to the hotel with the same name has already been eliminated, thus ending with another black point on the EN125.
A few hundred meters later, at the old Alcalar intersection, a new roundabout was created (where sidewalks, berms, vertical and horizontal signage, crosswalks still need to be finished). And so another area where accidents were frequent disappeared from the map.
At Ponte Nova do Arade, all scaffolding was removed, the structure requalification work having been completed once and for all, which led to long months of strangulation and even temporary cuts in the road in that area.
Upon arrival in Lagoa, the two-lane area is reduced to one, as small sections of tar are being repaved.
After Lagoa, the new roundabout of the Escola Internacional, whose work had been stopped due to archaeological finds, has also been operational for a few weeks. Signaling and repair works are only taking place in the lateral areas, and the paving of the created sidewalks is being completed at full speed.
The connection to Praia da Marinha and Caramujeira, which was cut off for almost two months while the works took place, was also reopened.
However, the intersection with traffic lights that used to give access to the International School and that caused so many traffic jams on the EN125, when parents go to pick up or pick up their children, has been eliminated. Now, to turn or return to the road, the roundabouts built in the meantime will have to be used…one of them is Fatacil.
At the new roundabout in Vale de Lousas, between Porches and Alcantarilha, next to the water park, the works that have affected circulation in this area since the end of the summer also seem to be about to end. This is because, last July, this roundabout seemed to have been completed, but after the summer stop of work on the EN125, half of the structure was again destroyed, for more work… and more traffic constraints.
The ADR administrator explained to the Sul Informação that everything “was dependent on the pipeline connection of the Águas do Algarve company, whose work has only just been carried out. The roundabout is conditioned, on time, with the work being completed on 12 January».
Also completed is the roundabout of Pêra, which, before the summer, had been left behind due to delays in the expropriation of the land needed for its construction. For a few weeks now, this structure has been almost unrestricted, which eliminates one of the main black spots on the EN125, an intersection where, over the years, so many people have died or been injured.
Further on, on the AlgarveShopping straight, next to Giga Garden, traffic has been alternately difficult for about two weeks, as new works are taking place there and car traffic is regulated by temporary traffic lights .
The most curious thing is that, in that area, the works seemed to have been completed even before the summer, with the completion of the paving, the painting of the horizontal double-line markings and even the placement of separating pins.
However, the brand new road has now been dismantled again…And, it seems, these new works are already maintenance of the previous works… The RAL administrator explained to our newspaper that it is about the construction of a «hydraulic passage» , to drain the water line that usually floods that area, as it is strangled by the road. «The Concession Agreement has a duration of 30 years. During the period of the Contract, several interventions will be carried out, as is the case of the intervention in question, in a hydraulic passage», added Rui Sousa.
Meanwhile, in December and already in January, the works along this half of the EN125 had continued with works in the lateral areas, such as the consolidation of barriers, the paving of the shoulders and accesses. Most of these works are completed or should remain until Friday.
To conclude, however, is the lighting of many of the roundabouts, new and old. Asked about this issue, the administrator replied that "not all roundabouts have lighting, as is the case with rural roundabouts." But certainly the Fatacil and Carvoeiro roundabouts, on the section of the EN125 that crosses the city of Lagoa, are not considered rural…and these are just two of the many that the Sul Informação found that they still do not have lighting working, although, in some cases, the new lamps are already installed.
And all the new roundabouts still lack the landscaping arrangements…but then, as far as our newspaper knows, those responsible for the works prefer to wait for the ideas and interventions of the Municipal Councils.
However, everything indicates that this will be a week of intense activity in the work that remains to be completed on the EN125. In any case, the deadline of October 31, which, on July 14, the administrator Rui Sousa had announced it as the end of the works.
As for the much-needed works on the section of the EN125 between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António, which is outside the RAL sub-concession and under the direct jurisdiction of Infraestruturas de Portugal, at best, only at the end of this year, 2018, can they begin.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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