Tavernes bypass will cut gridlock and pollution

Residents and homeowners urged to complete survey on 'landscape impact' for proposed CV-50 interchange with N-332 and AP-7

AN ONLINE brainstorming session on how to build the Tavernes de la Valldigna bypass has been opened to the public until at least the third week in August.

The regional transport and infrastructure ministry is drawing up plans for a ringroad connecting the main CV50 highway – which cuts through the centre of La Safor's northernmost town – to the N-332, which skirts around it, and the now toll-free AP-7 motorway.

A survey has been set up on the website for the regional government on its 'territorial policy' page – go to http://politica territorial.gva.es/va/web/ carreteras/projecte-basic-de-la -variant-de-la-carretera-cv-50-a -tavernes-de-la-valldigna-iconexio-amb-la-n-332 and click on 'Enquesta' ('survey').

The website automatically comes up in valenciano, and can be changed to castellano if required, whilst the survey – in PDF format – is entirely in castellano.

To read full details of the bypass and see photographs and diagrams of where it is expected to be built, click on 'Pla de Participació Pública' ('Public Participation Plan').

Those who wish to give their views – largely on the landscape impact of the possible plans – can either print off the survey, complete it in pen and hand it in to the town hall, or complete it online.

The CV-50, a single-carriageway trunk road running from Llíria (Camp de Túria) via Villamarxant, Cheste (Hoya de Buñol), Montroi, Carlet and Alzira (Ribera Alta) to Tavernes – a 90-kilometre stretch – doubles up as the main street through Tavernes town centre.

Round-the-clock gridlock means it can take up to 20 minutes off-peak to cover the three kilometres from one end to the other, and residents suffer constant air pollution and traffic noise.

Connecting it with the N332 with several interchanges involving roundabouts would mean far less through traffic, especially as the inter-provincial highway skirts the town without touching it.

For long-distance drivers using the CV-50 to head north, a quick route onto the AP-7 – as most of the other towns along it already have – would mean they no longer have to clog up Tavernes' main street.

Campaigns to create a ringroad have been ongoing for decades, but the financial crisis meant the plans had to be shelved.

When the work will start depends upon how long it takes before landscape and environmental impact issues, if any arise, can be solved.