Alex Trelinski
A LONG wait to remove a major Torrevieja bottleneck looks to be ending with a contract to upgrade the N-332 into a dual-carriageway set to be advertised early next year.
Transport Minister, Oscar Puente, revealed the news on Friday during a forum attended by Torrevieja mayor, Eduardo Dolon.
The N-332 carries an average of up to 40,000 vehicles a day with long queues forming at peak times- especially during the summer.
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Puente said drafting work for the project is currently being done alongside an environmental impact study.
He added that details would soon be released for public consultation and that his intention would be to seal definitive approval this year, and put the project out to tender early in 2025.
The national government agreed to the upgrade in 2018 along with an environment study, but nothing happened after years of campaigning.
Last November, Torrevieja council heard that the impact study was in progress.
Puente last week did not reveal the extent of the expansion or the likely cost.
It’s believed that only half of the eight kilometre section will be upgraded- between Torrevieja Hospital and the CV-905 junction by the Ozone Leisure Centre.
Since 2014, continuous white lines have been painted between the two single carriageways to stop overtaking and a spate of accidents.
Speed cameras have been erected on two sections and there are warning lights to warn motorists during peak periods of congestion.
