Alex Trelinski
ORIHUELA’S mayor says a €1.37 million bank loan could get a much-needed pedestrian bridge built over the AP-7 on the Orihuela Costa.
Pepe Vegara is looking at the option after years of campaigning by Lomas de Cabo Roig residents.
Meanwhile the council is still embroiled in long-term legal action to recover a 20-year-old €1.2 million bond deposited by the constructor.
The current bridge- opened in 2008- is used by pedestrians as their sole walkway on the CV-941 from Lomas de Cabo Roig to the beaches, health centre, and shops at Aquamarina.
There is just a small hard-shoulder on the crossing with cars having to swerve round pedestrians and cyclists due to the carriageway size.
Protests down the years included around 600 residents staging a march across the bridge in March 2018.
Orihuela council and the Urbana San Miguel company have locked horns for years over the issue.
The original bridge specification included a pavement but that didn’t happen as the firm experienced financial problems in the late 2000’s.
10 years after the opening of the bridge, Orihuela council had another go at trying to get Urbana San Miguel to build a separate walkway.
In 2021, the authority said it was going to seize the €1.2 million bond to pay for the project but CaixaBank refused to hand it over, and the matter has been in the courts since then.
Mayor Vegara’s ‘suggestion’ of a bank loan is just that- but he has previously said that sorting out the bridge impasse is one of his priorities for the Orihuela Costa since taking office last year.
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