The inevitable happened this afternoon when a motorcycle collided with a car on the single lane bridge to Faro island, blocking the road.
An INEM ambulance managed to get to the injured motorcyclist after an hour due to the backed up traffic hampered by the current roadworks to add a pedestrian walkway and resurface the road.
The motorcycle collided with the car right on the one way section of bridge and became wedged under the vehicle. The motorcyclist suffered a badly injured leg and was first attended to by a Red Cross medical team whose members arrived late and on foot.
Next was an INEM paramedic who had to park his rapid response motorcycle some distance away and continued his journey on foot.
Finally an ambulance got as close as it could after weaving through the cars and roadworks in danger of slipping down the bank.
The GNR and some handy locals finally managed to get the bike from underneath the vehicle and the traffic started slowly to unravel.
Had the injured motorcyclist been in need of more immediate attention, his injuries are bad but not severe, a helicopter could have been called but the incident will be pounced on by locals who say that the Polis Ria Formosa company, whose contractors have been described at best as sporadic, is carrying out the access work too late into the tourism season and the current access problems will becoem exponentially worse as the weeks slip by.
The Faro island access bridge is but one traffic congestion point in the Algarve which, as the record tourism season approaches, the mayors say will be in utter chaos. Unfinished roadworks, running repairs, temporary lights, single lanes, bridge work and lost tourists will all add to the mix yet the government refuses to suspend tolls on the Via do Infante.
The EN125 this summer is best avoided: impossible for those whose work depends that the road at least functions like a road, not a long series of traffic jams.
For video of the jam, see:
