After 14-year delay, Junta puts drafting of Guadalhorce valley motorway extension out to tender again

Residents of inland Malaga province have been demanding the extension of the A7 Guadalhorce valley road network for 14 years. Currently the motorway from Malaga ends at Casapalma. This section, which was built in 2007 and, in principle, was justified by the need to improve the connection with Malaga city, the coast and to link Malaga with the A-92 via Campillos, is highly controversial, and not only because of its danger risk.

The projects awarded at the time were the conversion of the Casapalma link to the Cerralba junction and the Cerralba to Zalea junction into a motorway. After an interminable delay, hopes for the extension of the Guadalhorce dual carriageway have now got under way with the tender for drafting ofthe project to convert a four-kilometre stretch of the A-357 road between the Casapalma junction, west of Cártama, and Cerralba into motorway.

This short section is part of the works for the planned Malaga-Ronda-Campillos highway.

The Guadalhorce valley road project, with a tender base of 231,864 euros, aims to give continuity to the current motorway between Malaga city and the Casapalma junction. Companies wishing to submit their bids have until 6 September to do so.

In December 2009, the Andalusian regional government announced an investment of around 28 million euros for the construction of this Casapalma-Cerralba section, in which four kilometres of motorway would be built parallel to the current A-357 road, with a daily traffic capacity of 40,000 vehicles. However, it is only now, 14 years later, that the project is finally beginning to see the light of day. With that first project, the main requirement was for two lanes, in each direction, instead of the current one lane in each direction. However, so much time has passed that the construction projects planned in 2009 no longer comply with the current regulations.