The Roman site discovered during the work of the variant of Las Angosturas, in Priego de Córdoba, will be preserved thanks to the principle of agreement found between the Junta of Andalusia and the The town hall. THE Minister of Development, Territorial Articulation and Housing, Rocío Díazand the mayor of Priego de Córdoba, Juan Ramon Valdiviaargued that the Junta de Andalucía will transfer ownership of the land where the site is located to the Consistory for its “conservation, research and dissemination” during a visit to the works of the variant of The Angosturas where he indicated that the work is at 75% and should be completed within April 2025.
Rocío Díaz emphasized that, from the first moment, the Ministry of Development was extremely cautious given the scale of the discovery, with remains of a Roman oil mill, a road and a natatio. Indeed, the decision taken upon the discovery of this site was “to divert the initial route planned for this work to protect certain vestiges which are part of the history of Priego and start a modified version of the original project.
“We know that this is a road that has been requested and desired for forty years, but first we had to provide a solution with all archaeological precautions,” said Rocío Díaz.
At the same time, the advisor Promotion congratulated the City Council for having “taken the initiative and wanted to continue investigating its past and making it known not only to its neighbors, but to all those who visit Priego de Córdoba”.
Request from the municipal council
Thus, the Town Hall will soon formally request the transfer of ownership of the land to the Junta de Andalucía. In the meantime, a geotextile will be extended and covered with gravel only what is essential for the preservation of the remains found, without hindering possible future documentation and development actions on the part of the Town Hall.
The measures aimed at the conservation, research and future valorization of the site will be implemented, as the two administrations have agreed, within the framework of the guidelines and directives established by the Provincial Historical Heritage Commission of Córdoba and the Territorial Delegation of Culture.
The archaeological discoveries seem to correspond, according to research, to a center of production and distribution of surplus olive oil of Roman origin from the entire region. The site, called Cortijo de los Cipresesit would be a strategic location within Baetica and linked to the distribution networks of the time, which is why it was considered of great cultural interest to preserve it and continue to deepen future research.
The pace of the works was conditioned by the archaeological discovery found, which forced the partial execution of the said section to be suspended to develop a modified project. The alternative proposed in this modification was to make a 740 meter long detour parallel to the site.
It is expected that the work, 75% complete, will be completed in 2025“We hope that in the month of April“. Currently, the structure of the two planned viaducts is already built. In addition, the intermediate layer is 70% complete. All that remains is to complete the part of the route that has been modified and the rolling layer, signage and markings on the 5.5 kilometers of new road.
Technical characteristics
Work on the variant The Angosturasdeveloped by the Azvi company with a budget of 13.2 million euros after the modification, will offer a safer alternative to the winding route with many curves that the current road offers. A-333 during his passage Priego.
The route of the variant begins near the intersection of the A-333 with the CO-7205which serves as access to the town of Fuente-Tójar. The variant initially runs on the current road, the work therefore consists of reinforcing the road surface, widening it to the left for the acceleration lane and to the right to locate the central left turn lane.
After the detour towards the new route, the road crosses the salty river through a structure of three spans of 112 meters. After crossing the river, a climb begins mid-slope, on steep terrain until kilometer 3, which is the highest point of the route. From here begins a descent to the lowest point, at kilometer 5.1, where the new road will have a second, smaller viaduct (16 meters) to avoid the Los Prados stream. Finally, the current road joins at kilometer 5.6 the start of the direct junction of the connection between the A-333 and the A-339 road, direction P.irrigation of Córdoba Norte and Cabra.
The road will consist of two lanes, each 3.5 meters wide, with outer shoulders of 1.5 meters plus half a meter of shoulder and a planned speed of 80 kilometers per hour. The project includes three passages on its route: two connections with the A-333 and one with CO-7206a provincial access road to Castil de Campos. In addition, a dozen agricultural tracks and a livestock track will be replaced.
