The (almost) 700 meters in the burial of the A-5 that have Campamento and Aluche in suspense: "If it is for the good of the neighbors, they have fallen short"

Carlos Guisasola Madrid

Madrid

Updated Saturday, March 16, 2024-00:03

At the mouth of Avenida del Padre Piquer, next to the underpass that has spent a lifetime avoiding the frenzy of the A-5, a group of neighbors collect signatures.

Behind them, hanging on a wire fence, is a banner that summarizes the reason why they are there.

"Underground A-5 after Avd. de los Poblados," reads its argument, written on a cone of orange construction.

"We only claim what was in the recreation that they taught us in 2022. It is an area that asks for it," laments

Rafael Álvarez

, uniformed in a fluorescent vest from the Camp Neighborhood Association, while he returns to the fray in search of more support for your cause.

To know more

Project.

The secrets of the seven new enclaves that will sprout on the A-5: a large viewpoint, green pergolas, dry fountains, dynamic gardens...

• Editorial: CARLOS GUISASOLA Madrid

• Editorial: ÁLVARO MATILLA (INFOGRAPHIC)

The secrets of the seven new enclaves that will sprout on the A-5: a large viewpoint, green pergolas, dry fountains, dynamic gardens...

With Operation Camp aground on that Valentine's Day two years ago, the City Council presented a project to the Latina Municipal Board that contemplated burying it up to Avenida de los Poblados.

In the recently tendered plan, the first phase, which will be executed by the City Council at the end of this year, the tunnel ends next to 310 Paseo de Extremadura.

From there, responsibility would pass to the Central Government (or not).

"We don't trust each other, we want what they promised us in 2022," they insist.

That is why the demonstration organized for tomorrow between the Carretera de Boadilla and the desired Avenida de los Poblados.

Pedro lives on Seseña Street.

He doesn't wear the vest, but he is quite sensitive to the company.

"It affects me threefold," he says.

With a sign in his residents' parking lot on Illescas Street, he learned that the burying would entail the expropriation of the garage, which adds to the issue of traffic due to the works and the end of the first phase ahead of schedule.

«There is a fracture between the Aluche and Campamento neighborhoods that would be solved with those 700 more meters of tunnel.

"What they promised us in 2022," he explains.

From the Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility Area, headed by

Borja Carabante

, they point out that the pending section for the next phase is 600 meters.

«We have divided the neighborhood.

We are also concerned about the speed of the cars when traffic is reorganized," adds Petra, who lives next to the Boadilla highway.

The 3.4 kilometers of underground space fall short and they are demanding that little bit until Poblados Avenue, which can be seen from the table where they continue to collect signatures - some 2,500 along with those on change.org -.

«This neighborhood is like a small city.

"The gap doesn't make sense."

"We feel disappointed"

Nobody trusts what may happen from number 308 Paseo de Extremadura, which is when, on paper, the national Executive would enter the scene.

In fact, after the meeting last Thursday between the neighbors and the general director of the Public Land Business Entity (SEPES),

Leire Iglesias

, the matter, far from being clarified, ended up submerged in more confusion.

«They pass the ball between each other.

The Ministry (Housing and Urban Agenda) says that they start from Avenida de los Poblados.

"And those almost 700 meters?" explains

Andrés Piñeiro

, spokesperson for the Campamento Neighborhood Association.

The summit took place in one of the rooms of the Ángel González library, which is where the first part of the project would conclude, the outcome of which is scheduled for May 2027. The City Council points out that this controversial section corresponds to the State: "It is something that they know from the beginning.

"It has been discussed in many meetings."

The story, despite the apparent previous harmony, seems to get tangled again.

A neighbor looks out from the balcony of his home.JAVIER BARBANCHOMUNDO

«We are very angry and feel let down by a project that was going to solve traffic, noise and pollution.

“We want the burial, but we want it to be done well,” says Piñeiro.

«There has been occultism and a very great confusion.

We found out a month ago that it did not reach Avenida de los Poblados.

Now it is left as agreed in 2009,

80 million

are saved and it takes less time.

"They have told us that they will leave everything ready to go under Metro Line 5," says the authoritative voice of the residents of Campamento, who fear the future speed of traffic and the insecurity of the Padre Piquer subway, vital for the future. .

"A good part will remain isolated"

Enrique Serrano

, spokesperson for the Aluche Neighborhood Association, the other neighborhood involved,

also speaks .

«No one assures us that the works of this second phase will begin as the previous ones finish and we cannot remain like this for five years.

"It is a double nonsense to do the project on two sides," he laments, while remembering the tortuous days in which traffic was diverted through the interior of the neighborhood during the works on the M-30.

«We want them to assure us of continuity.

If in 2019 Almeida said that they would reach Avenida de los Poblados, we do not understand why they changed course.

If burying the ground is for the benefit of the neighbors, they have fallen short.

"The most populated part of Campamento will remain isolated."

Neighbors collect signatures to support their demand.JAVIER BARBANCHOMUNDO

Cibeles has his arguments to defend the guidelines of this project.

"The reason why the City Council will execute the Southwestern Green Walk to Padre Piquer Avenue is because this has been agreed with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda to be able to make the first section viable in advance," they detailed, shortly before knowing means of this newspaper that the state plan involves starting a few meters further.

"If this were not done, the start of work on the first phase of the Southwestern Green Walk would have been delayed by two years," they allege.

The agreement between the two administrations contemplates that the Central Government will pay its part (

150 million

) when the Operation Camp urbanization project is approved, expectedly in two years.

And that area of ​​discord, that of Avenida de los Poblados, will be incorporated in the next phase.

On the banks of the A-5 they remember those

Manuela Carmena

traffic lights or the handful of broken dreams.

«That piece would save homes on both sides of the highway.

We don't want to bother any other neighborhood, we just want to be sure that, before the tunnel is finished, the project continues.

"We fear the worst if they pass the buck."

It is the voice of two neighborhoods that live in suspense over those (almost) 700 meters of asphalt.