Faro council has managed to put on a brave face as it announced the reopening of a vital link into the city
The Penha road was closed due to works involving the northern Faro bypass, and its reopening has been lauded by the city hall as "good news for the people of Faro, despite the delay of 1,460 days."
The delay was due to the "unjust and wrong decision of the coalition government” to halt the upgrade work on the EN125 which has caused the well-used route to be shut for four years.
The council’s socialists say that locals won’t be fooled by the razzmatazz and ribbon cutting for a road that was closed down so as to enable the bypass to be built and which still is not open.
The blocked off road has been used for four years by joggers and assorted wildlife.
The council thanked the local parish councils affected by this long-term road closure, also for getting the road back into shape by clearing the choked ditches and cutting the verges so that cars once again can use the road.
The Faro bypass was announced in 2009 under a socialist government but was suspended before completion.
Local pressure may have helped recommencement of work on the bypass which was rescheduled to be completed in June this year.
The Faro bypass is one of the few sections on the EN125 that is getting built, leaving the promise of a general upgrade of the ‘road of death’ as just that, a promise and one that under this administration will not be fulfilled.
The Passos Coelho government pledged over €200 million to upgrade the EN125 when currying favour for the imposition of tolls on the Via do Infante in 2012.
Local councils that objected to the tolls system were soon silenced by promises of EN125 upgrades in their patch with Faro mayor Correia making one of his signature U-turns when the Faro bypass was offered.
When the motorway tolls started in December 2012, the promised EN125 upgrade programme was shelved in a cynical move that left egg on the faces of many of the Algarve's mayors.
With the increase in the volume of traffic on the EN125 affecting locals, freight deliveries and tourists, and the tolls system seen as expensive and complicated, the Algarve's road network management system can indeed be said to be 'catastrophic' as announced by Lagoa council last week.
See:
http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/5755-lagoa-council-algarve-s-traffic-management-is-catastrophic
