The Diputación de Málaga provincial authority is carrying out a major stabilisation and refurbishment project on the nearly nine-kilometre-long MA-7401 road, which connects Ronda with Benaoján and also provides access to other municipalities in the Guadiaro valley, such as Montejaque, Jimera de Líbar and Cortes de la Frontera. The works, awarded for 3.1 million euros to the joint venture Albaida Infraestructuras, SA, Talleres y Grúas González SL, and Tecnoasfalto Levante SL, focus on resolving serious problems of landslides and road surface deformation and will continue until the beginning of next year.
The president of the authority, Francisco Salado, has visited the works along with the mayors of Benaoján and Montejaque and pointed out that this is the largest economic undertaking carried out on a provincial road in recent years.
“It is a road,” he added, “that runs through the municipalities of Ronda and Benaoján and has suffered from continuous landslides, so various improvement works were carried out, although they only partially resolved the problems. Therefore, the road repair was highly demanded throughout the region, and our commitment to the residents of Benaoján, Montejaque, and Ronda was to undertake a permanent solution.”
Salado stressed that this project demonstrates the Diputación commitment to improving and modernising the province’s road network, which comprises 860 kilometres, and specified that nearly 20 million euros are allocated each year for structural repairs, road surface reinforcement plans, conservation and maintenance work and emergency actions due to storms and other incidents.
Furthermore, he indicated that in the Serranía de Ronda alone, some 15.7 million euros have been invested in improving mobility in the region over the last four years, in addition to the 7.5 million euros currently being used to repair 14 roads in the Serranía de Ronda affected by the storms in February.
Actions being carried out on the MA-7401
The structural rehabilitation project for the MA-7401, drafted by the Roads and Works Department of the Malaga Provincial Council taking into account geotechnical studies carried out on the road, includes various actions to solve the deformations and cracks in the road surface, resolve the landslides that affect the platform and improve the drainage of the road.
Salado pointed out that the complexity of the works will mean that traffic will have to be stopped at some point.
On the one hand, in some sections where there are minor deformations in the road surface, structural rehabilitation of the platform is carried out, including the repair of soft spots and the improvement of the supporting ground. Likewise, in areas with significant deterioration and cracks in the pavement, but without deformation of the road surface, the pavement is milled, followed by levelling and compaction of the road.
In addition, stabilisation work is being carried out on the roadbed using riprap retaining walls ranging in height from 2.5 metres to 4 metres in five sections. Similarly, deep geotechnical work is being performed on another five sections of the road through the construction of micropile walls.
Simultaneously, various works will be undertaken to improve the longitudinal drainage of the road and prevent runoff from affecting the road surface. Finally, the road surface will be reinforced, horizontal road markings will be applied and vertical signage will be replaced.
