Coast bridge repairs begin
Walkway has been out of action for 3.5 years
THE BRIDGE which used to connect the promenades between Mil Palmeras and La Torre in Pilar de la Horadada is finally being reconstructed, after it collapsed in the September 2019 flooding disaster.
According to the town hall, the national and regional government took two years to grant the necessary permits, but work is now underway and scheduled to be finished before this summer, saving residents and tourists from having to make a lengthy diversion to get from one side to the other.
The new bridge, which has a budget of €290,000, will be made of wood on a single beam 36.66 metres long and 3.5m wide, of which 2.5m will be usable. This will be supported on the existing concrete abutments on the banks of the Río Seco.
The walkway will have wooden trusses in an arch without intermediate pillars, in order to improve the river’s drainage capacity, as required by the Segura river and water authority (CHS), and the national coast department (Costas). As a safeguard, it will be 1.08m higher than the legally required 1m above the maximum high-water level.
The local government assured it ‘has not stopped working on a project as important for tourism and social reasons as this’, but reminded that it did not have the authority to do it alone and had to observe the legal administrative procedures.
The technical project for the new bridge was finished only five months after the old one had been destroyed.
This initial project proposed a stone breakwater at the base of the central pillar for protection, as is typical for this sort of infrastructure, which the CHS approved in March 2020 but Costas rejected and demanded a more durable alternative.
The town hall prepared a new project, which it sent for authorisation in September 2021 and the CHS informed it had no objections a month later. However, as no official reply had been received from Costas, the town hall decided on February 19, 2022, to start the authorisation procedures with both authorities.
Nine days later, Costas asked for a paper copy of the project, a commitment by the council to maintain the bridge, and a project to evaluate the effects of climate change on the zone.
On the last day of that month, the council committee (JGL) approved the repair project, including the climate change evaluation and other details required by the authorities.
The paper copy was sent on March 8, 2022, along with the municipal commitment, and authorisation was finally received from Costas on April 27, and the CHS on May 12.
With everything approved, the details of the tender were published on August 24 and, over the following months, companies presented bids which were then evaluated and the winner was chosen.