Ronda-San Pedro Motorway – Will They Or Won’t They?

Although talk of a new toll motorway to run between the lovely and historic town of Ronda in Andalucia and San Pedro de Alcantara, just 10 kilometres west of Marbella on the Costa del Sol, have been rumbling on for some time, it seems that there may now be a question mark over whether the project ever goes ahead.

Ronda Bridge

The one hour journey between the two towns currently involves negotiating a winding 45 kilometre stretch of road which is consideredto be one of the region’s most hazardous.  If it still goes ahead, the planned new high-speed motorway, meanwhile, would shave the travel time down to just 20 minutes and would not of course incorporate the 365 bends which can be found along the current route.  The plans have, however, met with a degree of opposition from academics and environmentalists which may not only have slowed the project down, but brought it to a complete standstill.

In a report which was published last year, ecologists pointed to the fact that the new motorway would need to cut through the Sierra Bermeja, a European protected site which is due to become a national park, as well as across farmland to the south of Ronda and the chestnut growing areas of the Genal valley.  In addition, there are fears that there could be damage to an important aquifer in the Sierra del Oreganal, north of Benahavis.

Apparently somewhere around 350-400 million euros have been set aside for the project which, it was hoped would be completed by the year 2012, but it now seems that a leading Junta official has admitted that she does not know when the motorway will be built and there may even be doubts as to whether it will go ahead at all.  The alternative proposal which was put forward by the objectors included work to make the existing road safer and faster, as well as to improve the rail service between Ronda and Malaga which would remove the need for workers to use their cars.

Image of Ronda bridge by Papalars on Flickr