Tenders for the long-delayed new bridge to Faro Island may be opened this year with work ending in 2017 according to Faro’s mayor, Rogerio Bacalhau.
"What is envisaged is to launch the contest this year and if this goes well we can have the work contract signed at the end of the year and the work can still be started later this year or, at worst, early next year" said an unhurried Bacalhau today.
The bridge, which will replace the 1957 one, has a futuristic design but still only one lane open for vehicles. Details of the project were announced by Faro council nearly two years ago when the municipality struggled along under the part time mayorship of Macario Correia. Back then the start date was now - now the start date is sometime hence which, with an estimated build time of two years, makes locals wonder if the old bridge will fall down before the new one is built.
Bacalhau says that the bridge will have two lanes, but vehicles can use only one of them as the second lane is for emergency vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians.
This configuration received sharp criticism during the public consultation last summer.
The new bridge is budgeted to cost €2 million, but the total value of the project including the construction of a 900 space car park and a wooden walkway connection, exceeds €3 million.
One goal of the new construction is to restrict car access to Praia de Faro where traffic jams are frequent.
In terms of access, Praia de Faro is the only Ria Formosa island with a road link and the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS ) issued by the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development (CCDR) last November was all for a new bridge but with reservations over safety.
The EIS also recommended that maximum vehicle flow rates are imposed and that a cycle path is built.
The current bridge will be demolished after the new one is built having stood for nearly 60 years with some work carried out in the 1990s.
The total cost for a ‘designer’ bridge already has come under scrutiny and criticism from the Algarve’s leading civil engineer, who commented today that the structure “could cost half.”
The new bridge is "absurd from an engineering point of view" and could cost less than half the estimate, according to Carlos Martins, a civil engineer and professor at the University of the Algarve. Professor Martins reckons the bridge should cost no more than €1 million and anything more is “a waste of money."
"What they are planning is absurd from an engineering point of view and also from the point of view of resources" said the expert, classifying the project as "an act of failed engineering."
According to the professor, the wavy bits flanking the bridge serve no purpose, are needlessly expensive and as they are screwed in, will soon rust away in the maritime environment.
Professor Martins added that the new bridge will not solve the current navigation problems caused by the fact that the vessels, even small ones, will not be able to pass under the bridge when the tide is in. One of his solutions for the number of vehicles would be to install a counting system that could electronically inform drivers before arriving at the bridge area whether there were places available on the other side where they could park.
"In my opinion, it is one a mistake on top of another. The access problems has not been addressed and the structure will cost double what it could be built for," concluded the good Professor who is the only specialist in such structures in the region and has a keen eye to those wasting taxpayers' money.
Professor Martins did give technical advice in May 2012 as requested by Faro council and submitted a document with suggestions which were rejected by the executive.
