Malaga residents call for speed reduction on 'Limonar motorway'

There is a pedestrian crossing halfway along Avenida Camarón de la Isla, but nobody trusts it, because very few people use it. Cars coming off the Limonar exit from the Ronda Este carry on at almost the same speed as before, only now they're on a road in the city's eastern district.

The road is a steep downhill slope, which doesn't help drivers to slow down either. In-between, there are two large roundabouts, which do slow traffic down somewhat, although accidents are a daily occurrence.

"We've seen it all here: cars spinning round, delivery vans that have ploughed into several parked cars. What's worse: if you don't cross the road very carefully, they'll run you over and we're really scared for the children," Amanda says.

Avenida Camarón de la Isla is a recently built road linking the Colinas del Limonar area with Camino de los Almendrales and Calle Toquero and Calle Arrigo Boito. Ever since people began moving into the new housing developments three years ago, local residents have been calling on Malaga city council to introduce traffic measures, although nothing has been done so far.

The transport department has stated that traffic flow monitoring devices have been installed and a study is being carried out "to determine the necessary road safety measures", but there are no conclusions as of yet.

Residents are tired of calling for action. "The problem we have is that it's a two-lane road, with a junction very close to the motorway, and cars come speeding down it with no way to slow them down," José Luis, who also has children who use the sports facilities, says. "I know for a fact that the residents' association has contacted the council on numerous occasions to see if a system can be installed to make vehicles slow down, because right now this is a proper motorway."

What worries him most is the constant traffic heading towards Los Almendrales, where loads of children go to play football. "There's a sports club with teams of all ages and the zebra crossing is extremely dangerous because vehicles come speeding through."

"I know for a fact that at least three cars have already crashed into the roundabout at the junction of Arrigo Boito and Camarón de la Isla," José Luis warns. There have also been problems with garage exits, when someone tries to pull out and is met by cars speeding past.

To make matters worse, local residents say that, at weekends, it is common to see cars racing from roundabout to roundabout. "We're concerned about the situation because it's getting worse and worse and we fear that the council will only take action once a tragedy has occurred."

As a practical solution, the residents' association is calling for raised zebra crossings to be built, as has recently been done in the nearby area of Mayorazgo, where they also had similar problems. "They should at least do this at the crossing near the sports pitches, which is where all the children cross." Other options they are proposing include the installation of a fixed speed camera.

So far, all the council has told them is that they're looking into it. "We've been waiting for three years of studies now. Ever since we moved here, this was the first thing we asked for in our meetings with the district council, because we could already see it was extremely dangerous," local resident Pedro says.

This is not the first time the transport department has installed sensors to measure traffic and assess possible measures. "I'd like to remind you that they installed them last year too and there has been no progress since then. We're still facing the same problem. It's unacceptable that crossing a simple street should be such an ordeal. If there haven't been any accidents so far, it's only because God has spared us," Pedro states.

This campaign follows in the footsteps of the one residents of the nearby Calle La Minilla, in the Mayorazgo area, launched a few years ago. Until 2022, this was a quiet cul-de-sac, providing access only to the homes of a few residents.

That year, they found themselves with their front doors opening onto a two-way, sloping road with a sharp and dangerous bend and poor visibility. It is one of the main access routes to the Colinas del Limonar housing developments.

Retired municipal engineer Emilio Mena and other residents launched a campaign to call on the city council to introduce measures, which even led to the intervention of the Andalusian Ombudsman.

After two years of negotiations and administrative procedures to make the project a reality, the long-awaited work to install several raised features on the carriageway began in early 2025. The works involved building three raised pedestrian crossings to force cars and motorbikes to reduce their speed drastically, which was one of the main demands from local residents, just as is now the case in Camarón de la Isla.

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