Lagoa council has launched an ambitious project to turn the fishing village of Ferragudo into a tourist-friendly showpiece of modern urban planning in a major redevelopment under a Porto-based consultancy, mobility now. To solve the parking problem, the council is to build a 200-space car park near the health centre. This multi-storey building will cost an estimated €600,000 and will house a bus terminal and taxi zone, “just a few hundred metres from the riverside area.”
The current canal that divides the old and newer parts of the village will have a dam installed so it always will be filled with water, with greenery planted on its new banks.
A wooden walkway will be built so people can stroll along the Arade riverside, “without danger” and the arched bridge will become pedestrian only.
The €8 million, three year redevelopment includes blocking all traffic and all parking in the centre of the village and along many of the village access roads.
Ferragudo has been developed in a piecemeal way over the decades, something the mayor is determined to put a stop do by his major redevelopment, most notably the widening of the canal and planting trees along a newly created pathway and slopes. This intervention also is to act as a flood barrier to stop the regular flooding of the lower village.
The riverfront restaurant area will remain but the outside grills will be homogenised and remain in situ, “as tourists like to see this display,” according to the mayor, adding that the fishermen (remember them?) using the quayside to fix their nets, also “will be reorganised and integrated into the urban design.”
Through-traffic will be channelled into a one way system and lower Ferragudo will give way to a modernist approach and redesign - similar to Carvoeiro but with a car park.
"What we want to do in the lower part of Ferragudo is to think of that space as a whole and not as slices and to create there a large and welcoming entrance area with more green spaces for the people to use and walk in," said Mayor Martins, in an interview with Sul Informaçao.
