There is a new Variant on its way to Olhão and more and more is known about it. This time, we are not referring to a new strain, but to the future Variant to the EN125 in Olhão, whose route proposal has already been presented to the Olhão Chamber.
From what can be seen, for now, this will be a good variant, as it will not require any demolition, it will seek to cut 'to a minimum' the crossing of agricultural land and will have lanes dedicated to residents, so that there are no direct entrances to the road, promoting road safety.
«Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) came to present us, with the team to which it awarded the execution project, the proposal for the layout of the variant, already with some level of detail», he explained to Sul Informação António Miguel Pina, mayor of Olhão.
In this case, the municipality, despite being an interested party and being involved in the process, as evidenced by the presentation promoted by IP, will not be the owner of the work, which will be paid, in full, with the funds of the so-called European "bazooka", embodied in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).
As has been known for a long time, this ring road will start next to the Barretão restaurant and will end at the roundabout accessing the A22, which also serves the new industrial area, through a new road that will pass north of the city of Olhão.
The project has already been subject to an Environmental Impact Study, which was the subject of public consultation, and has already received the green light from the Environment authorities.
The route chosen “leads to no need for any demolition of houses and tries to cross farms as little as possible”.
“A good part of the route has four lanes, two for carriageways, one in each direction, and the other two, one on each side, to give access to the houses. In this way, there are no direct entrances to the road», according to António Pina.
The new infrastructure will have a route of about six kilometers and will include six roundabouts.
The route will occupy, «above all, vacant lots» and «will free the city from the pollution, insecurity and congestion caused by thousands of cars that daily cross Av. D. João VI (former EN125) towards other cities in the eastern Algarve». according to the Chamber of Olhão.
This is a project that has been planned for over a decade and that has not been well received by all, despite the population and the City Hall have been demanding a solution for a long time to relieve the pressure of traffic on the EN125 from within the city.
At first, residents of the area where the road was designed joined together to challenge the original route.
Meanwhile, the contract, which was included in the Rotas do Algarve Litoral concession, for the requalification of the EN125, was dropped when the PSD government of Passos Coelho renegotiated the Public-Private Partnership and withdrew the works between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António from the concession.
The work had to be “resurrected” by the first government of the socialist António Costa and has now been included in the PRR.
Regarding the controversies of the past, the mayor of Olhão says that "as far as we know, a committee of residents that had been set up a few years ago is aware of the layout and is not opposed to the design".
Now that the preparation of the execution project has been awarded, the designers “have 250 days to prepare it”.
"This means that, by the end of the first half of next year, the execution project has to be completed, so that the work can be put up for competition", he said.
«Certainly it will be done by 2026, as this will be paid, in full, by the funds of the “bazooka”. All the work that has been done over the last four years allows us to be now in a position to take advantage of this money. This is the last opportunity we have and I know we will make it», concluded António Pina.
Photos: Chamber of Olhão
Comments