Portugal’s A8 road was destined to be renamed as the ‘Autoestrada do Surf’, or just 'ASurf', to reflect the sport that is practiced in Ericeira, Nazaré and Peniche - a sport that has made Portugal famous as an international surfing destination.
The A8, will stay as the boring old A8, dashing the plans of Caldeira Cabral, Minister of the Economy, Turismo de Portugal and road concession holders Brisa, Lena and MSF which control Autoestradas do Atlântico, to rename the road with something more fun that the A8. This would coincide with a world surfing circuit event in Peniche starting this coming Tuesday.
The local Peniche mayor, António José Correia, is not best pleased either, saying the original plan was to rename the road to reflect the place Peniche now has in the worldwide surfing scene - and would have been rather fun.
The government had other ideas and said on Sunday, having seen the press coverage about the name change, that:
"There is no intention to change the formal identification of any national highway, reaffirming the full respect for the designation provided for them in the National Road Plan,"
Government suits were prodded awake on Sunday to comment on the matter but simply droned that "the government is completely ignoring" the proposal to change the A8’s name.
The 'surfenomics' for this sector have been worked out by Leiria Polytechnic's João Paulo Jorge who says an estimated €7.7 million in tourist income arrives in Peniche as a result of surfing tourism.
Garrett McNamara's surfing world record achieved in November 2011 shot the Peniche area into the headlines with a 24 metre surf.
Cementing his committment to the area, McNamara married Nicole Macia, an environmental sciences teacher, at Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal in November 2012.
The Hawaii-based extreme surfer beat his own record in January 2013 when at the same Peniche location, McNamara rode a 30 metre wave and in May 2014 was signed up by Turismo de Portugal as Portugal's 'surfing ambassador' which, despite McNamara's clear dislike of being interviewed, was an inspired move with 'World Record' and 'Peniche' becoming linked by international media and the surfing community.
The government does not want to join in the buzz by changing the A8 into the 'ASurf' because it is a a government and therfore is programmed to say 'no' to anything different or fun.
Turismo de Portugal later denied it was behind the A8 name change move but did state that it "has analysed various marketing projects in order to further enhance the performance of numerous international events," with its chief, Luís Araújo, clearly keen to distance himself from the proposal now that the government has said "no."
Comments
Ahhh... that I didn't know!
The A8 Lisboa - Leiria has a toll system already in place...
This means people who live along them have no addresses.
Tell that to delivery people or emergency services; they'll tell you it's how it is in Portugal.
But there's no money to be made by the boring administrative task of correcting the problem.