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A stretch of the AP-7 motorway will be closed on the Costa del Sol tonight (Monday 18 November) as a convoy including a 100-metre-long vehicle transporting wind turbine parts makes its way along the coast. For several days, the convoy has been trying to complete its route through the provinces of Granada, Malaga and Cadiz. According to what SUR has been told by the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT), everything is proceeding normally and without incident, with only occasional interruptions, such as the one tonight (18 November) on the motorway in the direction of Cádiz.
The closure will be between 12 midnight and 3.30am, however the concessionary company of the AP-7, Ausol, said it will be an hour and a half less than planned.
The closure aims to facilitate the safe passage of the large convoy, Ausol's general manager Juan Marchini said. The wind turbines being delivered are for the construction of a wind power plant in Los Barrios, in Cadiz. The size of the windmill blades, with a length of 92 metres, and of the masts, which are 50 metres long and 4.40 metres wide, mean that no other vehicles can pass through the convoy. The maximum dimensions of the convoy exceed 100 metres in length and four metres in width.
During the early hours of Monday to Tuesday morning and at the scheduled times, the three toll sections will be closed to traffic only in the direction of Cadiz and the following detours will be made: at the Benalmádena bypass towards the A-7, at kilometre point 1011; Marbella bypass towards the A-7 (PK 1047); Estepona bypass towards the A-7 (PK 1071); as well as at the three side tolls at Calahonda, San Pedro and Manilva.
"It is necessary to keep the motorway closed to traffic due to the size of the transport and its low speed, as it would prevent users from travelling at normal speed on the motorway," Marchini added. The operation will be coordinated by Guardia Civil's traffic unit.
Each lorry is accompanied by three escort vehicles with signalling lights, as well as a support vehicle which also travels at the end of the convoy. Laso, the company which carries out the transport arrangements, has a workshop and mechanic vehicle, in case of any incident during the journey.
In total, the planned operation involves the passage of six convoys between October and November, although recent storms have caused a slight change in the initial schedule. Five convoys have already passed, so "tonight marks the end of this important operation which has lasted almost four weeks".
Ausol's general manager said the AP-7 motorway is "the only route on which these large trucks can travel in the south of Spain". The full route is from the port of Motril to Los Barrios.
"With measures like this, Ausol is making an effort to attend to large-scale projects of great economic and social importance, to collaborate in the sustainability and development of renewable energies in Andalucía, mainly in the province of Cadiz, where the increase in this type of project is more than notable," Marchini added.
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