Malaga province breaks road noise level recommendations, affecting 28,000 people over 100km
The ministry of transport has approved an action plan that includes five million euros of investment in the Costa del Sol province's problem areas
The ministry of transport and sustainable mobility has provisionally approved and submitted for public consultation its 'noise action plan' (PAR) for the major roads of the national road network for the next five years (2025-2029), worth 231 million euros (IVA included). In Malaga province, this means an investment of five million euros, which will be shared across two projects on the western ring road skirting the provincial capital.
According to the document submitted for review, consulted by SUR, noise levels on the national road network exceed recommended limits at 252 points that are used for measuring noise. These points cover a linear length of 109 kilometres and affect 27,917 people. Among them are 5,023 students in educational centres and 471 patients in hospital beds.
Malaga is the worst province in Andalucía for road noise and the fifth worst across Spain, surpassed only by Alicante, Pontevedra, A Coruña and Valencia.
367.29
kilometres of the state road network are in Malaga
State roads in Malaga total 367.29 kilometres, meaning that noise pollution affects almost a third of them. Of these, 274.7km are toll-free and the rest are motorways, the AP-7 and the AP-46. The total of dual carriageway is 243 kilometres.
In recent months, the Spanish government has invested almost 20 million euros in noise-reduction measures, concentrated on the AP-7 motorway. The largest of these projects was the Marbella bypass, costing 15 million euros.
The undertakings announced in the framework of this new action plan affect the MA-20, between Malaga and Torremolinos. The noise barriers will be replaced along a 2.5-kilometre stretch. The new noise absorbers have a budget of five million euros.
5.02m euros
"The PAR has been based on criteria of impact, efficiency and technical-budgetary feasibility, with the aim of maximising social and environmental benefits over its five-year term. Ninety-four per cent of the prioritised actions already have approved construction projects or are at an advanced stage of drafting, which will allow for a swift deployment of such work commencing," the ministry reported in a public statement.
2.5
kilometres of Malaga city's western ring road will benefit from this action plan.
Among other measures, the plan includes the installation of acoustic barriers, replacement of existing paving with sound-absorbing materials and other technical solutions aimed at reducing noise levels in residential, educational and healthcare environments. These actions were defined following a detailed analysis of the results of the SRFs (environmental noise management reports) prepared in Phase 4, which cover more than 12,000 kilometres of major road networks (roads with annual traffic exceeding three million vehicles), including more than 900 kilometres of toll motorways.
The ministry maintains a section on its website dedicated to environmental noise management on the state road network, where the public can consult the PAR and access the form to submit comments or objections during the public consultation period.
