The city of Madrid welcomes this Wednesday, January 15, one of the major civil works in the recent history of the town. The underground work on the A-5which will last approximately two years, until the end of 2026, will allow the residents of the area to breathe, turning the capital into a much more efficient place.
To understand the magnitude of this pharaonic work, They got up chat with Borja Carabantedelegate of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility of the Madrid City Council. The strong man from Almeida faces his particular ‘D-Day’, one that will last more than twenty months, leading the battalion that aims to continue making the capital a more modern city.
With an agenda that is tighter than the lanes of the A-5, Carabante receives us in his office at the Palacio de Cibeles to talk about the burial, the relationship between the City Council and the Ministry of Transport, Madrid 360, the housing problem and what is third.
Question: How has the work on the A-5 been since work began in October? Has everything been prepared for burial?
Answer: Since October, when the works began, we have been doing the preparatory work. First, the diversion of the affected services, that is, telephone, water and gas pipes, what is located below the road.
These works have been underway since the month of October, and we have been working at night for a few days so that on the 15th all the detours would be established, so that we could begin the definitive burial and the execution of the slab on the current section of the A-5.
Q: Could you detail for our readers what these traffic closures will consist of and how they will affect the 80,000 drivers who pass through the area?
R: From the 15th, where there are four lanes in each direction, there will be two. Until mid-February, the cut will affect the two central lanes in each direction, and then the four lanes will be passed, two in each direction, in the exit direction, and work will begin on the entire roadway now occupied by the meaning entry to Madrid.
That is until the end of 2025, then the same will be done but in reverse, possibly reaching November 2026 to complete everything. Two years of work are coming, a 50% reduction, with the consequent inconveniences, but for that we have launched a mobility plan.
Q: Talk about the mobility plan that you have established for these works. Has the Madrid City Council been satisfied with this strategy?
R: No. We have not been satisfied because there is an issue, which is the free R-5, that affects us. But we do not want to get into controversies, it has been a mobility plan agreed upon by the three administrations (City Council, Community and Ministry of Transport), and I believe that good technical work has been carried out. Furthermore, I am sure that in the coming weeks the Ministry will make the entire R-5 free.
It will be difficult to explain to the people of Madrid that they are going to be stuck on the A-5, a road that is going to lose capacity, that there is another, just a few meters away, that has sufficient capacity and that is at the service of citizens. Therefore, I think they will make it free. This does not mean that in recent weeks we have worked with great loyalty, but I think it would have been positive to make it free for everyone.
Q: Do you confirm then that the coming traffic chaos will open the eyes of the Ministry of Transport…
R: What we have to put on the table is that the administrations have done everything possible. The City Council has launched the greatest reinforcement in the EMT buses, the Community of Madrid in intercity buses and Metro and the Ministry in the Cercanías network. We could not give more due to lack of resources, but one more step was missing, which was making the R-5 free of charge.
They have done it for public transport, something that at first they did not want to do either. It seems good to us, but we had to go one step further. Of course, the mobility plan had to pivot on public transport and I think that is what has been done.
Q: Why do you think Transport is so reluctant to extend the free R-5 to all vehicles?
R: I don’t know, to be honest, because at first they said it wasn’t possible, and it turns out that it has been done on other occasions. In Alicante, as a result of some works, the AP-7 was free.
Therefore, it is possible to do it. I think it would have been positive, and I do not rule out that the Ministry will do so in the coming weeks. I don’t know what the reluctance is, but I want to say that in the area of Cercanías they have made an effort with those 42,000 additional places. Now we cannot fail in the provision of services, because if there are failures in C-5, problems would arise.
Q: Do you think the neighbors, who have been demanding this work for years, will be satisfied?
R: I have no doubt. The neighbors have been demanding this action for decades, and they did not fully believe it until they saw the machines this weekend demolishing the buildings. Now they are assured that this will be a reality within two years. Just two inches from the facades there was an eight-lane highway, and now they are going to have 40,000 square meters of green areas.
It’s going to change their lives. This work is a milestone in the history of Madrid, I do not believe there is an urban transformation operation as powerful as this in Europe. Where there are cars now, there will be parks and gardens.
Q: This type of civil works, as happened with 30th Street years ago, will bring with it many complaints and annoyances. Are you ready?
R: We are going to have to explain the inconvenience that the neighbors may suffer. I think Madrid Río did a lot of good in terms of the pedagogy of a work. During the execution, I remember the banners on the left. Let them go now, where the green areas are, to see if they want to go back to what was before. The works cause inconvenience, but they are worth it.
Q: This civil work, one of the largest in recent years, will mark your political future and the future of Urban Planning. Are you nervous?
R: I face it with the utmost responsibility because it is a work of enormous transformation. Very happy to be able to be the one who directs and promotes this action, but with the feeling of making an effort in the information.
Q: Regarding informing and raising awareness, do you think that this lack of pedagogy could have been a problem with Madrid 360?
R: We have made a significant effort with Madrid 360. One of the fundamental axes has been information and awareness. Sometimes it is difficult to reach everyone, especially when some measures require an effort from all Madrid residents. Madrid 360 pivots on a comprehensive policy, and we have understood that the final objective, which is to comply with the European directive, was worth the efforts.
Due to these efforts, we can afford not to fine during 2025, since we have the best air quality data. If we want Madrid to be the best city to live in, it has to have quality standards.
Q: When successes come, such as complying for the third consecutive year with the European directive, does it bother you when the TSJM knocks down Madrid 360 for an appeal like Vox?
R: We will see what the Supreme Court says, but for us it was not good news. It was a strategy endorsed by the technicians and the people of Madrid, since we obtained an absolute majority in 2023. We do not renounce Madrid 360, but we are going to consolidate it within the mobility ordinance.
We have gone from being, in 2019, the most polluted capital in Europe, to being a benchmark in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Large cities like Paris, Milan or Rome have not achieved this. We do not give up anything in the name of sustainability, we believe that it is possible to reconcile all areas.
Q: Was the twelve-month extension announced for 2025 for cars without a Madrid label planned or was it a result of the TSJM ruling?
R: It has been because of the data we handle and because the mobility ordinance allowed it. In compliance with air quality data, which tells us that we need new efforts, we have done so without taking into account a ruling that we have already appealed.
Q: How do the housing measures announced by the central government compare with the plan that Madrid has in place in this matter that is so key for citizens?
R: Several issues need to be said. The first thing is that it does not have a housing policy. One of the most accurate issues in Sánchez’s speech is that there has not been a housing policy in the last decade. Considering that Sánchez has been around for seven years, he is making amends for himself. Therefore, I agree with that, in the last seven years there has not been a housing policy.
And if there has been, it has been by applying that disastrous housing law that has brought bad results. When there is data, it is time to decide and verify whether the measures adopted. We know that, once the housing law was implemented, the price of rent and housing for tourist use has increased.
The reasonable thing would be to rectify. There are issues that seem good to me, such as reducing the tax burden on sales, but it is contradictory to what is applied. This, which has a liberalizing veneer, goes against the limitation of purchases from foreigners, limitation on rental prices.
Contrary to what European capitals do. We believe that we must generate more supply, which will end demand and increase prices.
Q: Finally, how does the City Council address the problem of squatting and tourist apartments in 2025?
R: With squatting we have limited powers, but we can raise our voices so that the Government changes the law and protects the owner. Secondly, do not allow squatting in our own buildings. I remember that during Carmena’s mandate, all the municipal buildings were occupied, and the first thing we did when we arrived was to get them out of there. That is a key message, showing intolerance with squatting.
Regarding tourist apartments, Madrid has a uniqueness that makes it different, and that is that there are still neighbors in the center of the city. They have not been expelled, and we have a point of balance between the visitor and the neighbor, something that we want to maintain and that makes us attractive. We are going to make it more flexible so that more residential buildings can be incorporated into the downtown area. A model of complete buildings, which separates both.
Source: www.vozpopuli.com
