If you live in Madrid and have had to drive to the city center at any point over the past two years, you know the odyssey of crossing the Paseo de Extremadura along the A-5. Neighbors had been calling for years for the burying of this road due to the noise and air pollution they suffered, and obviously it wasn’t going to be an easy task.
What for many was a 20-minute journey to the center has become, since the works began, the most infamous Scalextrix. But it seems there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel: the City Hall has completed the excavation of one of the two tunnels, the one entering the capital.
A project that will also greatly boost the land value
According to details provided by the City Hall in a press release, the two tunnels that bury the Extremadura highway to give life to the so-called Southwest Green Walk have been excavated in full both in the Madrid entry direction and the capital’s exit gallery. Work will continue through August inside the tunnel on the final execution of the lower slab, the installation of panels, the construction of technical rooms, the placement of all installations and lighting and the mounting of variable-message panels.
The space that today occupies the road through which 80,000 vehicles travel daily will be transformed into a large 3.2-kilometer green axis walkable for the citizens. The neighbors of the Lucero, Aluche and Las Águilas neighborhoods, in the Latina district, separated since 1968 from Campamento (Latina) and Casa de Campo (Moncloa-Aravaca) by the highway, will have a naturalized corridor that will, in turn, connect with Madrid Río, the Casa de Campo and the Latina Green Wedge.
Of course, it hasn’t been easy for local residents due to the high levels of noise and atmospheric pollution they are experiencing:
Underground, drivers will have three lanes per direction in two bores. A gigantic project that involves more than 400 million euros in investment and is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.
Images | City Hall of Madrid
