Deeply fed up with being ignored by government, the EN125 Citizens' Movement has launched an official petition to collect signatures so parliament can debate the issue of broken promises to fix the eastern section of the road and discuss the broken dreams that the A22 motorway would accelerate the region’s mobility and efficiency.The renovation of the EN125 eastern section, between Olhão and Vila Real de Santo António, was promised even before December 2011 when tolls were imposed on the region’s motorway. There is no start date for this work, even though the western section now is finished.
The Movement says the Olhão-VRSA section of the EN125 is in a depressing state of abandonment and continues to be ignored by government.
The main problem has been the high traffic volume using the EN125, with drivers choosing the potholed track rather than paying to use the motorway.
Apart from the high cost of the A22 tolls, the revolt in the Algarve has been due to the fact that this motorway was built with community funds, with taxpayers' money, "with taxpayers again called on to pay for what they have already have paid for."
The ‘Petition for Dignity and Security on the EN125’ states that "the political decision to postpone, without a date established for the beginning of the road works, constitutes an enormous danger to the security of those citizens who use it, to the mobility of the population concerned and, in general, is an obstacle to sustainable economic and social development."
"The A22 - Via Infante de Sagres was conceived as a way of improving the collective life of citizens living and working in the Algarve, but with the introduction of motorway tolls and the EN125 eastern section in such a bad condition, this now is unbearable for citizens.”
"The EN125, because it is a highly urbanised coastal road, with accidents and deaths at many black spots, can not serve the population in a safe way, while causing travel problems due to the deplorable state of the surface and the lack of safety on its verges and hard shoulders - which are absent over many kilometres. This increases exponentially the risks of road accidents and road deaths."
The completed western section of the EN125 has caused an uproar from drivers who get stuck in single lane traffic, unable to pass slow-moving vehicles due to miles of posts down the middle of the road. The average road speed has been estimated as low as 35kmph, which may delight road safety campaigners but will continue to cause frustration and long tailbacks in the tourist season.
The eastern section also may take several years to complete if the on:off pattern of work is replicated.
The 2011 government assurances to the region's mayors that if they supported the A22 tolls, they would all benefit from a €200 million EN125 upgrade, was hardly remarked on at the time and the tolls were imposed with no mayoral opposition. That was the first mistake.
