Malaga Port is considering new underground road link alongside Guadalmedina river

The Port of Malaga sits in the heart of the city, making road access particularly challenging, especially for north-south freight traffic, which plays a vital role in imports and exports.

To address the issue, the port authority has launched a study into a new high-capacity road link running alongside the Guadalmedina river. The proposal dates back to the original plans for the A-45 Las Pedrizas motorway but never moved beyond the drawing board.

On Wednesday, the Port Authority's board approved a public tender to appoint an engineering consultancy to prepare a feasibility study for a new underground road connection to the port via the river's north-south corridor.

"The study aims to identify the best options for improving access to the port while strengthening its integration with the city's main road network and surrounding transport infrastructure," the authority said.

According to the Port Authority, the new access road would improve connectivity to the port, ease traffic linked to freight and tourism, and support more efficient and sustainable transport in line with both the port's future growth and Malaga's wider urban regeneration plans.

The project will also need to fit in with the city council's plans to build a series of 'plaza-bridges' over the Guadalmedina riverbed, creating new public spaces that improve links between the river's two banks through the city centre.

The city council has expanded the scope of its Guadalmedina regeneration project, which includes the plaza-bridges between the Armiñán and Perchel bridges. The scheme also proposes burying the riverside roads underground, extending the existing tunnel beneath Avenida de Fátima by around 500 metres and constructing a further 1.4 kilometres of tunnel beneath Pasillo de Santa Isabel and Avenida de la Rosaleda.

The preliminary design will now extend from the port entrances to Ciudad Jardín. The council widened the project at the request of the port authority, which expects traffic volumes to increase significantly over the coming years and wants the new tunnels to connect directly with port facilities.

Separately, the port authority awarded a ten-year contract to operate the new fish market at San Andrés Quay to the association of fresh fish producers of the Port of Motril.

Port authority president Carlos Rubio also announced that the organisation had joined the European Alliance for the Development of Rail Freight Corridors and the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), an initiative that aims to strengthen transport links across the Iberian Peninsula and improve connections with Europe's main logistics corridors.

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