The Algarve’s seemingly never-ending roadworks on the EN125 will be put on hold between July 1 and August 31 in a bid to ease traffic flow during the busy summer season.
The announcement was made by Portugal’s Secretary of State for Infrastructures on Wednesday (June 1) during the opening of a new roundabout linking Faro’s north EN125 bypass to the EN2 road.
“We are going to finalise all the ongoing roadworks on the EN125 to guarantee that on July 1 everything is cleared up,” Guilherme d’Oliveira Martins said, cited by regional online newspaper Sulinformação.
“We’re committed to having everything sorted so that tourists and visitors can enjoy stability and tranquillity while driving on the EN125,” he added.
For the rest of June, workers from hired concession Algarve Litoral will be busy putting up new traffic signs and painting new markings on the road, while also completing any other unfinished work.
The renovations will resume again “sometime after the summer”.
But when they will finally be completed is still anyone’s guess.
The secretary of state says the government is paying “special attention” to the often-dubbed ‘road of death’ (notorious for its terrible accidents), though this may mean little to thousands who have been negotiating chaos for the last nine months.
“Suspend the EN125 roadworks now,” say hoteliers
A day after the government’s announcement, Algarve hoteliers’ association (AHETA) launched another hard-hitting statement urging the government to “suspend the roadworks immediately”. The association added that the works “do not even have the approval of the Court of Auditors”.
AHETA says the government has made “a number of serious mistakes” regarding the road, which have created “a wave of discontent, protests and indignation” among locals and holidaymakers alike.
