Improvement work starts on Sa Contramurada

[pigeonpie]

Improvement work starts on Ciutadella’s Sa Contramurada

Work began last week on improvements to Ciutadella’s main avenue, Sa Contramurada. The project was due to start on 14th September, but was brought forward to the first of the month, and should be completed by March 2010. The scheme is the largest of those included by the Council for finance under the Plan E, and accounts for 1.7 million euros of the district’s allocated budget.

The workmen began by fencing off the perimeter of the site before the diggers moved in to start work on the section of the road between the Plaça de Ses Palmeres and Calle Sor Àgueda, which is now closed to traffic.

The action will then move progressively towards the Plaça del OAR, with the Avenida Negrete being the last section for attention. With roads adjacent to Sa Contramurada also being closed to vehicles, traffic throughout the town has had to be reorganised.

In agreement with residents in the area, the first section of the avenue will retain its 3-metre wide pavements and car parking and a cycle lane will be created, leaving a road 3.2 metres wide which is sufficient for heavy vehicles and buses. The central reservation will be reduced from 90 to 60 centimetres. The scheme has met with the approval of the neighbours, who still have their wide pavements and parking spaces, and Ciutadella Council, which will be able to create the cycle lane.

A similar agreement with residents in the final section, the stretch of Avenida Negreta between the OAR and Calle Mallorca, has failed to materialise. They wish to keep the pavement at its present width of 4 metres and still retain the parking spaces, rejecting a proposal to transfer the parking to the Plaça Menorca and Magnifics Jurats area. This means that, in order to create a cycle lane, it would either have to be incorporated into a 5-metre wide pavement (leaving pedestrians with a 3-metre wide stretch) or the central roundabouts in the avenue would have to be made smaller.

As the meeting with residents ended with no agreement being reached, the decision on the options will now be made by a majority vote in the Council.

Ciutadella Council is to ask for an extension to the time limit set for the execution of projects included in the Plan E (the state’s scheme to encourage local economies) so that improvements to Calle Portal d’Artrutx and the final section of Sa Contramurada can be carried out between January and March. Reports have been issued by the Local Police and shopkeepers’ associations to draw the State’s attention to the town’s orientation towards tourism. Ciutadella Council decided not to start work in these two areas during July and August for fear of the negative effect it would have on trade locally.

[pigeonpie]

Sa Contramurada’s new look


Work is progressing steadily on the section of Sa Contramurada between the Plaça de les Palmeres and the Plaça des Pins, the major project to be carried out in the Ciutadella district funded by the state under ‘Plan E’ which is designed to boost the economy at a local level.

The decision to include a cycle lane in this stretch of one of the town’s major thoroughfares has meant that adjustments have had to be made to other parts of the avenue in order to gain sufficient space to create the 2 metre wide lane.

The central reservation between the two traffic lanes will be halved from 90 centimetres to 45, but the pavement will be kept at its present width of just over three metres. The new parking spaces will be 10 centimetres narrower than currently and will still be considered a blue zone, i.e. ‘pay to park’.

The width of the traffic lanes will be reduced by around 60 centimetres, from 3.8 to 3.2 metres, in order to gain more space. New streetlights are to be installed which are more attractive than the current ones.

The vehicle lanes, cycle lane and pavement will all be at different levels with gentle slopes separating them to ensure the safety of cyclists.

On the other side of the central reservation, the widths of the various elements will be as they are at present as this section has been reformed within the last few years.

The above constitutes the first and second phases of the Contramurada project. The third, which will involve the stretch between the OAR and Calle Mallorca, is still unresolved. The main bone of contention in this area being whether the current parking spaces should be retained or relocated in adjacent streets to allow room for a cycle lane.

However, whilst the majority of citizens appear to be at least resigned to the inconvenience caused by the work, believing that it will be worthwhile in the end, many businesses in the area are finding it hard to cope with the noise and other problems resulting from the heavy machinery being employed at this early stage of the project.

[pigeonpie]

Subterranean passages and shelters beneath Ciutadella

Work currently taking place in the calle de Contramadura in Ciutadella has led to a discovery that gives an insight to life during the 1930s in the period of the Civil War. An entrance to a subterranean passageway has been uncovered barely centimetres below the level of the street’s asphalt surface.

The passage leads to a series of areas excavated out of the rock to provide shelter from air raids. Such air raids were performed by the Italian airforce, based in Palma de Mallorca. Although bombing of Ciutadella was not severe, it was worst in the area of carrer des Mirador, Cal Bisbe,la Plaça des Pins and the harbour area.

With its entrance filled with rubble, this underground passage was known to exist amongst older inhabitants of the area, but nevertheless its discovery so close to street level came as a surprise. Steps lead down to a depth of eight metres below street level, where the passage bends twice at forty five degrees and then opens into a shelter some twenty metres long and three metres wide. Below the level of the floors further small chambers have been discovered in which small groups of people would have sought shelter.

The construction of the tunnel must have been undertaken by specialist workers who used dynamite to blow the rock up. In the passage walls holes can be seen where the charges were placed to split the rock. A horn was sounded when blasting was imminent.

Artifacts found in the shelters include rusty plates, plus pots and pans used for cooking by people sheltering down below. Lengths of electricity cables, installed to illuminate the shelters, have also been discovered.

In spite of the discovery, work will continue owing to the short period of time allocated for the works in the town centre to be completed.