Los Locos beach project presented

the Mayor of torrevieja, eduardo dolon, along with the Councillor for projects, Sandra Sanchez, presented the project for the redevelopment of the playa de los locos (avenida dr. Mariano Canovas). eduardo dolón explained in his speech that work on this project has been underway for three years, first by meeting with residents of the area to inform them of the action that the town hall intends to carry out, and already, in august 2021 the drafting of the project was tendered and awarded in december 2022 to the architectural Studio of Juan ignacio Fuster Marcos, for an amount of 73,221.40 euros (Vat included).

the mayor reported that last February the Basic project was sent with all the necessary documentation to the provincial Coastal Service of alicante and also to the directorate General of ports of the Generalitat Valenciana, and is currently awaiting a response report from both administrations to be able to continue with the final project. the town Council’s intention is to be able to put the works out to tender after this summer and begin to carry out the redevelopment of the promenade at the end of this year.

A necessary redevelopment eduardo dolón has indicated that, in view of the current state of avenida doctor Mariano ruiz Cánovas, a new redevelopment is necessary to significantly improve accessibility to the coastline, providing it with pedestrian routes and large areas for the enjoyment of the public, complying with the applicable regulations on accessibility in the urban environment, turning it into a pedestrian and urban promenade, but one that is more natural. the aim of the government team is to give the promenade sufficient size to allow people to circulate and interact, improve accessibility to the beach, and allow a better relationship between the city and the beach that is more direct, friendlier and adapted to the new needs of the 21st century. to generate a more natural coastal image of the municipality that is compatible with the existing urban space by providing better infrastructures, shade and nature along the entire route. an attempt has also been made to provide a response to the existence of the different terraces of the hotel and catering services, trying to give them a common image, delimiting the areas and offering a unitary and integrating current image. in short, it is a more natural proposal with an urban character, which makes its renaturalisation compatible as far as possible by introducing more green areas, pedestrian areas, trees, urban furniture with children’s play areas and bio-healthy areas.

Continuity of the promenades the project is conceived as a continuation of the promenades that start from the port of torrevieja and connect the entire urban coast of the municipality. this promenade borders the coastline which is already undeveloped land and will constitute for the moment the end of the urbanised pedestrian route that connects torrevieja to the seafront. in addition to the particularities of a pedestrian promenade, it should be taken into account that it is elevated with respect to the beach at a variable height, ranging from 0.7 to 1.5 metres approximately. there are also two areas of the promenade that receive a very strong flow of runoff water in the event of torrential rains (Curva del palangre and av. roentgen), which are being worked on together with agamed to converge in this project with the rainwater Master plan. the reorganisation of traffic on the adjacent streets allows the pedestrianisation of avenida Mariano ruiz Cánovas, its continuations, and the streets that run along it, diverting road traffic to the streets behind it, both private and large public transport. it has also been decided to divert the circulation of bicycles and VMp (personal mobility vehicles) by bicycle lanes in the back streets to avoid conflict with pedestrian traffic, as this would necessarily interrupt the transversal connection beach-promenade-terracebusiness that occurs continuously along the route, with the risk to safety that this would entail in an area of high population density in the summer season. the first level, on the upper level, which currently corresponds to the levels of pavement giving access to the buildings, is a continuous, wide, stone promenade, which accommodates the character of pedestrian traffic, rest and social areas, as well as the complementary services of shops and restaurants (in particular terraces). this is the most urban area of the intervention, with an immediate relationship with the city and the building. this level incorporates restricted vehicle traffic for access to garages, as well as the necessary traffic easement on a promenade for emergency vehicles. the second level is a lighter element, with a wooden image, which smoothly connects the lower level (beach-sea level) with the upper level (current pavement level). there is a continuity of a narrower promenade on the lower level, and it ascends and descends from the upper level, unfolding as a winding path that crosses areas of proposed vegetation at different levels. in the intermediate areas between the promenades, there are terraces with a variety of vegetation and rest areas, and at the upper level, they increase in size and trees can be introduced to provide shade for the promenade, as well as sitting areas under the trees. in the beach area, small, light, removable, synthetic wood or equivalent, seafront promenades are established, as well as three children’s play areas and two packages of prefabricated, removable public toilets and sanitary facilities.

An urban but naturalised promenade the proposal focuses on creating an urban but naturalised promenade, proposing a continuous relationship between the city and the beach. it works on the basis of the slopes to achieve a fluid relationship between the different levels of the meeting point, blurring the limits, proposing a promenade on two levels, both of which remain within the existing line of the sea shore.