Portugal’s national road company, Infraestruturas de Portugal, has announced that it will invest another €100 million in prettifying the nation’s crumbling road system – over the next three years.
In a statement, the company announced, "contracts totaling €107.5 million to carry out ongoing conservation work on the National Road Network over the next three years."
Under the contracts, various types of maintenance are planned, all of which it should be doing anyway, except perhaps the ‘repair and maintenance of works of art.’ Fixing drains, verges, pavements and signage is top of the list
The company added that "in total, 18 contracts will be allocated, one for each district and adjusted to the different characteristics of the network of each region, which ensure regular works of requalification and maintenance on more than 14,000 kilometers of roads at the national level."
The Algarve will receive just €4.2 million, the equivalent of a paltry €1.4 million a year – even rural Évora is to receive €5.2 million and Beja, €8.2 million. A additional spend of €6.5 million in Lisbon will hardly scratch the surface, nor will it in the Algarve.
Two national roads, the IC1 from the Algarve to Lisbon and the R2 -'Route 66' - from Faro to Chaves need complete resurfacing along much of the routes, not kust the verges tidied up.
The government's current priority in the Algarve, apart from restricting public spending unless it's an election year, is to finish the EN125 work in the east of the region, fix the bridge in Tavira and one day build a bypass around Olhão to ease the congestion that builds up twice daily along the EN125 that runs through the north of the city.
With over 20 million tourists visiting the country each year - a country of just over 10 million inhabitants, the pressure on roads will increase, not magically decrease and a budget for clearing drains and tidying verges, though welcome, will not make the roads any smoother, less pot-holed or less dangerous.
