The new Plaza de España opens in a month: a 1,150-meter tunnel will link Calle Mayor with Ferraz

• LUIS ANGEL SANZ

  @Luis_Angel_Sanz

  Madrid

Updated Thursday, 4November2021-02: 02

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The new

, the first major work to be inaugurated by the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, will be a reality within a month, as EL MUNDO has confirmed.

After two and a half years of hazardous work -interrupted several times for issues related to heritage-, now everything is in the absence of "a few auctions" and looking for a gap in the agenda of the councilor at the end of November or beginning of December to the grand opening, as explained by the architects of the work.

During these two long years of work -and more than 74 million investment-, a large part of the square and its surroundings have remained closed to pedestrian traffic and in part to vehicle traffic, causing numerous traffic jams.

At the end of the year, the removal of the fences and the workers will reveal a large and new pedestrian area in the heart of Madrid that will allow walking a long distance from

at its corner with

to

. passing through numerous palaces, churches, high institutions and historic green areas in the center of the capital of Spain.

The work, of great complexity due to the different archaeological remains found during its execution, will serve as the culmination of the pedestrianization of the Plaza de Oriente that was carried out more than 25 years ago by

, the first Madrid mayor of the PP.

As they explain from the

, any Madrilenian or tourist will be able to walk from

to the Plaza de España, the

or the

from 2022

, along more than a kilometer, without crossing a single car.

This area will become, according to the Consistory, "a new pole of tourist attraction in the city" that will change the appearance of the center of the capital.

In total, it will extend over more than 70,000 square meters and will prioritize pedestrians, moving all existing road traffic until the beginning of the works to the underground of Madrid.

This newspaper has had access to all the technical details of the work, including the most complex part: the construction of a mega-tunnel of more than one kilometer that will connect Bailén street at the height of Mayor (

) with Ferraz street, already in the district of

. This tunnel is an extension of the current one in Bailén that runs under the Plaza de Oriente. The new one will run through two independent tubes, one for each direction of traffic and with two lanes for road traffic in each of them.

The work, which has cost

, will become

first grand opening

.

But, in reality, the project was designed and started by the Government of Now Madrid team led by

.

In 2019, the Community of Madrid had to paralyze the works because it lacked the mandatory archaeological control.

Later, the discovery of numerous remains further complicated the execution of the infrastructure.

The City Council emphasizes that this area will give rise to a greener and more accessible environment, a wide area that will prioritize pedestrians over the "obsolete space", they emphasize, in which this square in the center of Madrid had become.

In the whole area,

will be planted

, which will serve to unite several green areas, some historical: the Sabatini gardens in the South;

the

, the

and

in the West, and the

and the Temple of Debod in the North.

From the

directed by

explain that one of the fundamental objectives of this reform is the total pedestrianization of

to connect several historical and high cultural value spaces that were until now segregated.

For this, new underground infrastructures have been built that will make it possible to maintain the dense traffic that was on the surface before the start of the works, but under the ground.

The new mega-tunnel will be partly a continuation of the one built in the 90s under the front of the

.

It will be

in total

and will connect in two tubes with at least two lanes in each direction Bailén Street at the height of Calle Mayor and Ferraz between

and

, already in the Moncloa-Aravaca district.

Aerial image of the Plaza de España taken this Wednesday, with the works nearing completion.ÁNGEL NAVARRETE

The crossroads that were until now under the overpass on the corner with Bailén and that communicated this street with the

and the

will remain, but completely underground and without pedestrian access. The set of traffic lights that existed will be maintained, since it is necessary to order all traffic towards the

and the

or towards the center of the capital, as sources from the direction of the work continue to explain.

The old tunnel that was built in the 90s and that runs under the front of the Royal Palace has been renovated in all its facilities -electric, light, ventilation and security-. This subway, instead of ending in front of the

, will continue to Ferraz at the height of Ventura Rodríguez and Luisa Fernanda streets, already in Ferraz (Moncloa-Aravaca), where its two mouths will be, entrance and exit.

The volume of land extracted, as sources from the Works Area explain to this newspaper, amounts to 53,500 cubic meters, which corresponds to 107,000 tons.

In doing so, the technicians almost at first came

across

the remains of

, a building annexed to the Senate that was partly demolished in the 1930s.

Underground, the cellars and vaults built in the 18th century by

remained intact

.

The Belgian method

At that time, the City Council had to change the construction method of the tunnel and submerge the tube that runs closest to the Senate six meters underground.

In order not to destroy these basements, which will be open to visitors after the works, the concessionaire began to build this subway using the so-called

, that is: by hand and with a pick and shovel, almost by hand.

Without opening the ground and under the remains of the palace, piles and a roof were installed under the walls to be preserved to manually build the tunnel, with the extra cost and excess time that this involved.

In total, safeguarding the remains of the Godoy Palace has cost

.

As municipal sources explain, there was no alternative: either it was done like this or the work was left unfinished.

In addition to these remains, a wall with arches was found in Ferraz that also had to be rescued, in this case bringing it to the surface.

This other intervention caused another extra cost of

.

than initially planned.

The two modifications to the project increased the total bill for the work from the initial 62 million to

, 20% more.

Even so, the final budget was 24.2 million less than the bidding, which was 98.6 million, because the winning company presented a significantly cheaper project.

With the Belgian or mine method, some 52 meters of tunnel have been built under the remains of the so-called

, with a width of 8.5 meters.

The definitive work will not only allow emblematic spaces such as the Royal Palace, the Sabatini Gardens, the Campo del Moro, Madrid Río or the Gran Vía to be united in a single walk at the same level.

In addition, the project that will be a reality in about three weeks will integrate the archaeological remains discovered during the work.

Two floors of the Godoy Palace will be visited, the buttresses of the old

next to the Sabatini gardens and the remains of the so-called coastal path of the old

, already in Ferraz.

To facilitate the tour, an archaeological itinerary will be carried out and an

be built

for this monumental cornice of the city that borders the southwest end of the Centro district.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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