This Friday, work officially began to put the A-5 metro back into circulation, at the entrance to the capital. If the deadlines are met, the current Paseo de Extremadura will make history within 25 months and Madrid City Hall will be able to build on top of the long-awaited Paseo Verde del Suroeste, which will change the daily lives of residents. of a large part of the Latina district.
But before that moment arrives, we will have to carry out long works that should be very problematic for traffic in the western area of the Community of Madrid. The A-5 will not be closed at any time, but there will be many periods when only two lanes in each direction will be operational, leading to significant changes in the way the approximately 80,000 vehicles on it travel. circulate every day. And lots of traffic jams nearby.
To try to mitigate them, Madrid City Hall has developed a mobility plan that relies almost entirely on detours via other existing roads, some of which are currently saturated with traffic during peak hours. It also plans to put an additional bus on each line of the EMT concerned and to slightly increase, thanks to the help of the Community, the frequency of line 10 of the metro, another which is already reaching the limit of its capacity during rush hours.
The plan was developed without speaking to the mayors of the neighboring municipalities concerned. The day after his presentation, Almeida had his first meeting with the man from Móstoles, from the same party. And next week, Tuesday, he will meet the socialist mayor of Alcorcón, the city that will be most affected by the works because the A-5 is the only rapid access road to Madrid. A few days ago, his mobility advisor, from Más Madrid, revealed that no one in the city council of the capital had met with this municipality to agree on the plan together.
The person Almeida’s team hasn’t spoken to so far is Óscar Puente or someone from the Ministry of Transportation. Last Wednesday, its Secretary of State for Transport and Sustainable Mobility, José Antonio Santano, sent a letter “taking into account the inaction of the Madrid administrations in resolving citizens’ problems”. He declares that he is unaware of the work and mobility plan prepared by the Town Hall, as well as the duration of the work and the planned reductions.
“The lack of information from City Hall makes it difficult for the Ministry to collaborate to the maximum of its capabilities to alleviate mobility problems,” reported sources from Puente’s team. And he requested the convening of the Technical Committee of the Madrid Regional Public Transport Consortium to define alternatives and a strengthening of public transport. “The collaboration of the ministry is requested while acting in total opacity and with its back turned,” they deplore.
An improvised R-5 petition
Madrid City Hall had requested in a tweet from its mayor that the R-5, the radial highway that Esperanza Aguirre built when she was president of the region and which had to be saved by the State due to its economic non-viability, or free. He did it improvised, since the day before he had presented his mobility plan without mentioning this possibility. The Mobility area had in fact included a request to strengthen Cercanías, which Renfe seems to be able to offer.
Among the reproaches between the City Hall and the Ministry, Más Madrid presented a few days ago its plan to avoid the “mouse trap” that, according to them, the entire area around the A-5 will become when the reductions in traffic begin. traffic. His proposal focuses on providing better public transportation and exclusive shuttles to affected residents, adding some routes to the current routes and offering travelers from neighboring affected cities direct trips to interchanges in different parts of the capital.
The teams of José Luis Martínez-Almeida and Óscar Puente will meet next week to hold a first working meeting and try to agree on a definitive mobility plan. It remains to be confirmed whether or not the leaders will be present at the meeting, but the two parties will arrive there after exchanging strong words, with accusations of “disloyalty” and several personal clashes over the previous months.
Regarding the arrangement of the parties, the Ministry of Transport is open to the temporary abolition of tolls on the R-5, provided that this measure is also co-financed by the City Hall and the Community of Madrid, a government that until now has accepted profile in a file that concerns him directly because it affects several municipalities and their transportation system. Puente’s team also proposes strengthening the C-5 commuter line and “possible improvements” which it does not specify. It also proposes to “allow a priority lane for interurban public transport on the state highway, provided that there is continuity in the municipal section”.
While they are trying to reach an agreement, work to bury 3.2 kilometers of the A-5 is making little progress these days. The first work has been to start installing the construction stands and the traffic reductions will – as expected – only arrive in December, so there is time to reach an agreement before possible chaos no traffic arrives.
As if he wanted to put the bandage on before the wound, the mayor assured this Friday, during a visit to the area that will be buried, that the Town Hall “is working very hard to minimize all the conditions and inconveniences that may arise at the mobility”. , based on the principle that, being a necessary and essential work, it is necessary to have the patience of those involved.
