The plenary session of the Diputación de Granada, at the initiative of the VOX Provincial Group, has unanimously approved a motion to promote a joint table between the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda, the Ministry of Development of the Junta de Andalucía, Diputación de Granada and Armilla City Council that addresses a technical and economic solution to reform the access of the A-44 Highway to the Albán Park in Armilla. In turn, the plenary has agreed to support from the Diputación to the underground of Fernando de los Ríos Avenue in Armilla under the access roundabout of the A-44 Highway, and urge the Ministry of Transportation, Mobility and Urban Agenda to create a branch of direct access to San Rafael de Armilla Street, on the A-44 motorway turnoff in the Motril direction.
The provincial deputy of VOX, Cristina Jiménez, has stated that the Metropolitan Area of Granada, composed of the capital of the Province and the towns of the so-called belt, “constitutes one of the main conurbations in Spain. According to the most recent data of the INE, the Functional Urban Area of Granada is constituted by 563,090 people, of which 232,208 people are residents in Granada capital, and 330,882 are residents in the towns of the belt, or in other words: the spectacular growth the belt of Granada has meant that its population is on the way to constitute already two thirds of the entire Metropolitan Area ”.
Faced with this incontestable reality, “there is no other option but to address a new reality that coordinates the entire Metropolitan Area in an integral way in which, among other aspects, transport efficiency is improved and vehicle agglomeration points are reduced, which increase the travel time of users and represent one of the main sources of environmental pollution in which Granada, unfortunately, stands out year after year. Proof of this evolution towards a metropolitan model has been the commissioning of the Metro, which covers Albolote, Maracena, Granada and Armilla, and we can congratulate that it has been a success of travelers and of valuation by users ” , Cristina Jiménez has continued.
The provincial deputy of VOX has explained that “one of the points that supports the highest level of road traffic is precisely in Armilla, at the entrance roundabout of the Albán Park, and that is, according to the 2017 data provided by the Ministry of Development, This section of the A-44 supports an average daily traffic intensity of 131,370 vehicles, the second most intense in the entire Province. This is due to the transfer of vehicles from the A-44, which has as its destination the Nevada Commercial Park and the PTS, and that of the neighbors of Armilla, Churriana de la Vega, Las Gabias or Cúllar Vega, who travel to the south and the center of Granada by Fernando de los Ríos Avenue. In addition, it also supports the traffic that accesses the commercial areas of the Albán Park, and that in San Rafael Street has a distributor of access to the Park and access to these towns in the southwest of the Metropolitan Area, but that suffers from a direct access from the highway. To our knowledge, this area has the need to provide a solution that alleviates the traffic so dense that it supports on a daily basis, especially improving traffic improvement for neighbors. This solution would pass through the underground of Fernando De los Ríos Avenue under the current roundabout of the A-44 Highway, with the creation of a lane for each direction of traffic of approximately 400 meters in length that would run entirely through the municipality of Armilla , thus articulating a direct connection with Granada ”.
This solution is not new, since we have seen how the partial burial of traffic in Granada capital has significantly improved traffic at the intersections of Severo Ochoa with Avenida de Constitución and Avenida de Madrid, or the Avenida Fernando de los Ríos itself with Camino de Ronda. However, Armilla does not have the investment capacity of Granada, and we understand that it is here that the Provincial Council has to intercede in aid of the municipalities of the belt and coordinate a metropolitan strategy, exporting the solutions that worked in the capital to the entire Metropolitan Area from Granada. Additionally, the creation of a branch of direct access to San Rafael de Armilla Street from the exit of the A-44 motorway in the Motril fairy direction, would undoubtedly facilitate access to workers and users of the shops of Albán Park, but on everything will facilitate direct access for residents in the metropolitan southwest for whom this street, as already mentioned, functions as a distributor. These measures will undoubtedly result in relief of road traffic in this area.
