Orihuela Costa pothole repair project completed, but residents warn that many more roads need fixing

Town hall coast department has also repaired the damaged sea wall between Campoamor and Cabo Roig

Councillor Manuel Mestre inspecting the repair work

Repairing all the potholes in Orihuela Costa is a bit like painting the Forth Bridge, because as soon as they have all been filled, new ones have already started to appear.

Nevertheless, this month Orihuela town hall’s department for the coast announced that it had finished its urgent project to repair 83 streets around the municipality’s coastal urbanisations.

A total of 257 potholes were dealt with, many of them large ones, according to the council.

The councillor for the coast, Manuel Mestre said they had covered “practically the whole coast and resolved significant deficiencies in the road network”.

The neighbourhoods covered included residential areas and busy through roads in Campoamor, La Zenia, Cabo Roig, Aguamarina, Lomas de Cabo Roig, Las Filipinas, Las Piscinas, Villamartín, La Regia, Playa Flamenca, Los Dolses, La Florida and Montezenia.

Mestre said the project had been classified as an emergency in order to speed up the procedure, “due to the intense rain which had seriously deteriorated the roads”.

The total investment amounted to €75,141 (including IVA/VAT), and the job, which started on April 30, was finished early, since the scheduled deadline was two months.

The councillor praised the “speed and efficacy” of the work, which was principally intended to make the roads safer for residents and visitors, especially in areas that are busy with pedestrian and vehicle traffic.

The coast department said they had acted quickly to stop the progressive deterioration of the roads and ensure the connections between all the urbanisations because, “the state of the roads, with uneven surfaces, subsidence and potholes, posed a risk to both vehicles and pedestrians”.

Residents beg to differ

The potholes not only posed a risk but have already caused numerous accidents, with people riding scooters particularly vulnerable to unexpected bumps in the roads.

One member of the Unidos Por La Costa residents’ association told them how her daughter crashed in this way on May 28 on Calle Pavo Real, the road to the local secondary school.

The girl suffered bruises to various parts of her body, a 2 cm open wound to her chin, which required 10 stitches in her face, and cracked bones in her hand in three places.

Her family has lodged a complaint with the town hall.

Unidos Por La Costa called on the town hall to fix all the remaining potholes that were not repaired during the recent campaign.

The association also claimed that the “regrettable state of the roads” could not be blamed on the rain, and alleged the “neglect and inaction of the (coast) department was to blame for not having acted much sooner and for having allowed the road maintenance service to end without putting the new contract out to tender”.

One consequence of the contract expiring was that asphalt could not be provided to the contractor, so potholes were being filled with earth or cement.

Moreover, there are approximately 700 roads in Orihuela Costa, but only 83 were repaired, leaving many more dangerous potholes untouched.

Sea wall repaired

Another repair job that has been completed recently by Orihuela town hall’s coast department was a section of the breakwater wall between Playa de la Glea in Campoamor and Aguamarina in Cabo Roig.

“This wall protects the foundation of the pedestrian walkway which facilitates safe passage for residents and visitors between both beaches,” said Mestre.

Stones had fallen out of the wall, caused by erosion and run off from rainwater and irrigation, endangering the stability of the structure, he explained.

The work, which was carried out over June 9 and 10, involved replacing the stones in their original positions, thus “guaranteeing the safety of the infrastructure and the preservation of the coastal landscape”, the councillor added.

Images: Ayuntamiento de Orihuela