Marbella City Councilors Seek Control of A-7 Highway Sections
City councilors Javier Porcuna, Isabel Pérez, and José Ignacio Macías announced this morning that the Socialist Municipal Group will request the transfer of sections of the A-7 highway that run through the municipal area to the Marbella City Council. This move is seen as a solution to take measures and end the “traffic congestion” that is causing “serious harm” to the citizens of Marbella and San Pedro, and by extension, the entire Costa del Sol.
Increasing Residents and Traffic Congestion
Porcuna explained that there are many causes for this problem, including the increase in residents due to tourism. He believes that solutions can be found by acting from the City Council once it can assume the competencies. He pointed out that what was predominantly holiday housing is becoming improvised residential due to the lack of affordable options to buy or rent a home across the 117 square kilometers of our territory, which is also defined by a geography that adapts to a coastline of more than 27 linear kilometers.
Proposed Solutions and Current Management
Among the solutions that can be considered is the “intervention” in the areas that run through the municipal term as part of the A-7 highway, which is currently managed by the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility. The state maintains competencies in sections of “such importance” as those found from the limit of Marbella with Mijas, to the east, crossing the Las Chapas area to the concurrence with the new Marbella bypass, part of the Málaga-Estepona toll highway section, and the one that runs through the border area of Nueva Andalucía and Puerto Banús to San Pedro, in the west.
Previous Assumptions of Road Improvements
Porcuna highlighted that the City Council “has already assumed works and improvements on roads that are the responsibility of other administrations, as exemplified by the case of the Junta de Andalucía and the Istán road”. In addition, at the end of 2020, it also requested the Junta de Andalucía to transfer the urban section of the Ronda road, as it was understood that one of the most evident adverse effects of the city’s growth occurs on the interurban roads, which “have been enveloped by the urban plot”.
Need for City Council Control
In order for the government team to carry out its task of promoting citizen welfare in an agile and efficient manner, it is essential that the City Council has the competencies to carry out road and infrastructure interventions along the entire length of the A7 (former N-340) that runs through urban areas. Porcuna emphasized the need for rationality, effectiveness, and agility in public actions to avoid the more than immediate and anticipated collapse of this arterial road. He added that as they are now in the process of developing a new urban planning plan, it could include the future development of these arteries with a much more municipal vision.
