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Plans get underway to widen the Costa Blanca N-332
The narrow stretch at Torrevieja is an accident black spot and constantly congested
The demand to widen the N-332 highway as it passes through Torrevieja is probably the longest-running complaint of Costa Blanca residents, but the project has finally taken a step forward this week.
On Tuesday November 14, Torrevieja City Council received notice that an environmental impact study will soon be conducted to examine the implications of adding extra lanes to the busy one-lane road.
However, it’s come as something of a disappointment that for the moment, the central government is only looking at widening half of the eight-kilometre stretch that runs between the hospital and the Ozone leisure centre at the access to the CV-905.
This step comes six years after the project was finally green-lighted in June 2018 but not a stone will be disturbed until the environmental evaluation has been completed. The section of the N-332 where the additional lanes are needed crosses through the protected areas of the lagoons and salt flats of Torrevieja, and the land is also part of the maritime-terrestrial public domain.
In cases like this, according to the law, an Environmental Impact Declaration “must be issued before of the final approval of the construction project and, consequently, prior to the bidding of the works.”
While most of the N-332 is a dual carriageway, this section only has one lane in each direction yet is forced to handle more than 40,000 vehicles each and every day. It’s the main route from Orihuela Costa to Alicante airport and as a result, traffic moves at barely a crawl during the high season.
The road is also an accident black spot as many drivers are still tempted to overtake even though there’s been a continuous white line since 2014.
Torrevieja mayor Eduardo Dolón has vowed to put pressure on the administration to ensure that the environmental assessment is completed before the end of the year so that work can begin as soon as possible.
Image: Ayuntamiento de Torrevieja
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