Benalmádena launches pilot test period ahead of plans to fully pedestrianise Puerto Marina

Benalmádena town hall initiated a pilot test period at the marina on Tuesday, aiming to assess the possibility of fully pedestrianising the area in the future order to guarantee safety. The idea is to encourage walking in an area with numerous restaurants and leisure establishments.

This summer, Calle La Fragata (one of the two main axes of the marina) will be pedestrianised in the section between the Casabianca cafeteria and the Burger King, that is to say, the area closest to the Fuente de la Salud beach, where the Benalmádena and Torremolinos promenades meet. This same street will be open to two-way traffic in the section between the Las Velas roundabout and the Casabianca.

There will also be changes on Avenida del Puerto - the other main thoroughfare. From the Velas roundabout and up to the Burger King, only vehicles going to the Mac Hotel, residents, loading and unloading vehicles and emergency vehicles will be allowed access.

For the moment, no infrastructural changes are planned and the town hall has only installed signs to facilitate traffic flow, working hand in hand with the Local Police. "The idea is to try it out now in the summer, when there are more people, to see how well the pedestrianisation of these stretches works," said port councillor José Luis Bergillos.

If all goes well, in the not too distant future, the intention of the town hall is to convert the whole area into a single platform. "When we reach this point, the entrance and exit of vehicles to the port will only be up to the roundabout; everything else will be pedestrianised and we will rearrange the whole area next to the boat moorings to favour traffic," said the councillor for works.

The timeline would be as follows: the area will remain pedestrianised until September. If all goes well, from September 2025 to September 2026, the area will be closed to traffic from the Velas roundabout. Then, if this goes according to plan, work will begin in September 2027.

"If everything goes according to plan, we are going to connect the promenade coming from Torremolinos with Paseo de las Estrellas inside the marina and from there another pedestrian connection will be made, via the Senda Litoral, by means of footbridges, with the promenade of Benalmádena," Bergillos explained.