The City of Alhaurin el Grande opposes the new “carretera norte” (north road) projected by the Junta de Andalusia.

The City Council has opened an information office where residents may submit any claims about the project. It has also launched a campaign to collect signatures against this road.

The City of Alhaurin el Grande held a briefing yesterday at the Casa de la Cultura, addressed to the owners affected by the construction by the Junta de Andalusia for a new road in the northern part of town, which was attended by more than 300 neighbors harmed by the project.

At the meeting, technical details were offered on this proposed road, whose budget is 27 million euros, affecting 350,000 m2 comprising some 200 farms and some 1,200 owners directly.

As for the layout, it's a fast track 7 kilometers long with two lanes in each direction, with 8 meter wide road, 25 metres wide including slopes and embankments. It would also have four intersections, two of them with access and other connections to existing roads. The project is called the Variante Norte de Alhaurín el Grande, and the route would be entirely new, with output in the first intersection from the area beginning on the road Viejo de Málaga crossing a rural area in the direction of the Campo de Fútbol Miguel Fijones crossing “La Dehesilla”, “Montepiedad”, “El Quinto, y la Carretera de la Vía (without access to the road) and arrives at the Campo de Fútbol. This is the second intersection from where it crosses in the direction of the Polígono Industrial, crossing urbanisation “Las Maldivas, “Camino de los Bueyes” (no access to this path) and the site of the future Technopolis of Alhaurin el Grande, to a third intersection located one kilometer from the entrance to the Polígono Industrial. From this roundabout in the direction of “Urbanización Miralmonte”, across the rural area of La Dehesa” ending in a fourth intersection with the current highway Alhaurín-Coín, to the height of Miralmonte.

With this data, it became clear the large impact of a project of this scale, as well as a new route, includingby the enormity of the intersections (with multiple roundabouts), with two of them connecting with existing routes. There were also reports of very low price of land for expropriation, with the square meter between 1.30 euros and 6.77 euros.

After the technical explanation, Mayor Juan Martín , responded to the questions of the residents present, who were along with the mayor's representative unhappy with the project and made clear their opposition to this road.

Juan Martín told residents that in all meetings with public works, with the Councilor, and with the Director General of Highways and the Delegate, they have always shown their disapproval of the project, making clear their opposition to this road and conveying "The municipality needs to improve existing roads and not new roads, and less with a plot so aggressive and such an impact for so many neighbors."

Therefore, the City Council submitted to the Ministry of Public Works several proposals, including a route that would be less aggressive and would affect fewer residents, the new route does not cross the important project of the Technopolis of Alhaurin el Grande , which has been working for more than two years; the new route is intended to be a comprehensive system on the edge of urban land and hence compensation to the owners to be more fair to the real value of the land; and in exploring other alternatives to this new route, they suggested:
1. Road from the Camino Viejo de Málaga until Venta Platero.
2. Road from the junction of the road with Villafranco and Cruce de la Carretera Coín-Cártama
3. Circumventing the nearest urban areas coinciding with the current routes as much as possible.
4. And the option advocated by the City Council which is to improve the rCarretera de la Vía, from Alhaurín de la Torre to rotonda del Mercado de Mayoristas to expand the two-lane road from the rotonda del Mercado until rotonda del Mercado and improve de Villafranco until up the road carretera Cartama-Coín, with construction of a bridge over the river Fahala. "With this layout it covers 20,000 m2 compared to the 350,000 m2 suggested" explained the mayor's representative.

The mayor insisted that "City Hall is against the road suggested by Junta de Andalucía which aims to unite Alhaurín de la Torre with Coín”.

At this meeting between residents and the City Council it was concluded that nobody agrees with this road, all believe it is unnecessary in Alhaurin el Grande and affects many lands, totaling many meters, and affecting many residents of Alhaurin el Grande, is not going to have a lot of traffic and has a big environmental impact on the landscape, negatively impacting on the Interés Comunitario del Río Fahala and traditional ordchards in Alhaurín both at the site of La Dehesa and other areas of high natural value and finally, the project has no coordination between administrations, in this case the Junta de Andalusia and the City Council, which must exist by law in projects of general interest.

"We do not understand the interest of the Junta in this road, because it hurts everybody and benefits no one," concluded Mayor Juan Martín.

Finally, considering that the deadline for submissions for this project ends on December 7, the City Council has launched several initiatives, including opening an office about this project at City Hall to deal with the public in the morning and afternoon, which will report on the road and allegations by residents deem appropriate can be submitted.

In addition, the City Council will present arguments about the project management and launch a campaign to collect signatures against this “carretera norte” (north road).