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Date Published: 24/05/2022

ARCHIVED - Murcia road workers identify yet more sections of the damaged Cedacero road in need of repairs

ARCHIVED ARTICLE

The budget for work to prevent landslides on the Cartagena road has more than tripled, and there are doubts whether it will reopen next month as promised

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Murcia road workers identify yet more sections of the damaged Cedacero road in need of repairs

During the torrential rains back in March, a sudden sinkhole appeared on the part of the RM-E22 regional road at kilometre 9.8 near the Cuestas del Cedacero, making the road impassable and causing it to be closed to traffic. Now, the repair work to fix the road, which started just 48 hours after the accident and has already taken two months, will be extended to include adjoining parts of the road for “reinforcement”.

The initial emergency works at kilometre 9.8 were joined a few weeks ago by the repair of new damage at Mirador (kilometre 10.2), and the Regional Ministry for Development and Infrastructures has now announced the addition of reconstruction work at kilometre 9.2.

The Regional Minister for Development and Infrastructures, José Ramón Díez de Revenga, said, “We are carrying out a large-scale, complex and costly project, whose initial work has been extended with the aim of reinforcing the safety of the more than 3,000 users who use it every day.”

This work consists of rebuilding of the supporting wall, which has already been completed, while five more supporting walls are planned, two of which have already been finished. The last phase of the project involves excavating the wall foundations and asphalting all three sections of the road.

On a visit to the works, the Minister said it is all part of a wider plan plan to adapt roads to climate change, and that it is a “geotechnically complicated section and what we have done is to anticipate future landslides by securing the area”.

Will the road still be ready to open on time?

Officially, the landslide that caused part of the retaining wall to collapse and the road to cave in was due to the heavy rainfall. However, some are pointing to the fact that more stretches of road are being identified as lacking in stability and blaming it on the botch job which was done on the same stretch of road around ten years ago, which was insufficient to handle the amount of traffic that would be driving along this busy pass.

The RM-E22 links Cartagena and Canteras with Mazarrón, Isla Plana and La Azohía, and the initial budget outlined for the repair work was 248,050 euros. Now, the Regional Government is saying it plans to invest a total of 810,700 euros into the project, but assures that it will still come in on time.

Two months ago, the estimated completion time for when the road would be able to reopen was given as early June. With just a week to go before the start of June and new parts of the road still being found in need of repair work, it remains to be seen whether the Autonomous Community can stick to its original deadline or whether motorists will have to continue using the alternative route of the old national N-332 road.

Images: CARM

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