A new controversy has added further fuel to the fiery mess that have been the Algarve’s never-ending EN125 roadworks between Vila do Bispo and Olhão.
This time drivers are complaining about several new “linhas contínuas” (solid white lines that prohibit overtaking) which they say are “completely unnecessary”, add to traffic build-up and in the worst cases force massive detours.
For João Cabrita, manager of the Alfa Garden Center near Guia, the lines in front of his business spell disaster.
They appeared “out of nowhere” on Monday morning this week.
“I was flabbergasted,” Cabrita told Barlavento newspaper.
The painting team “came at the time people rob houses”, he added.
“On Sunday at 10pm, there was nothing there. Today (Monday) at 8pm, there were two continuous lines.”
As the businessman explained, the new markings stop people turning into the garden centre and continue prohibiting these kind of manoeuvres for another 2kms.
“This will have a huge impact on our sales,” he said.
“Many of our current and future clients will simply stop coming”
Adding to the frustration is the fact that “the continuous lines are unnecessary”.
“The road has good visibility, yet there is a six-kilometre stretch of road that does not have one single section where you can overtake, and where all kinds of slower vehicles circulate, including motorbikes, bicycles and wagons.”
Even worse, there is not a single zebra crossing or pedestrian bridge, making this stretch of the newly-renovated road “even more dangerous than it was before”, Cabrita claims.
Solid white lines are causing upset elsewhere.
In Vila do Bispo, for example, there are continuous road markings along “the entirety of the EN125” which mayor Adelino Soares dubs “ridiculous”.
He told Algarve Económico website that the borough is in “discussions” with Infraestruturas de Portugal to fix the problem, though changes can only be made after this summer.
Meantime, an online petition has been launched urging road authorities to reevaluate the many solid white lines which cause “endless bottlenecks, block off access roads, and cause drivers to go miles out of their way”
(http://peticaopublica.com/pview.aspx?pi=EN125NaoContinua)
Photo: BRUNO FILIPE PIRES/OPEN MEDIA GROUP
