“The engineers don’t see”? Works on the bridge Marshal Carmona generate revolt

Deight years of work and an investment of 22 million. These are the figures that jumped into view during the announcement of the beginning of the rehabilitation works of Ponte Marechal Carmona in Vila Franca de Xira, Lisbon. However, new numbers are causing indignation among those who cross this infrastructure daily. 

It is that a course that took about 15 minutes to complete has, in recent weeks, taken on average more than 45 minutes (sometimes 1 hour). Whoever crosses the bridge every day and has to keep schedules says it's unsustainable.

No one disputes the importance of the works being carried out. But further measures are needed to minimise their impact.

22 million works are needed

It was in June that the Infrastructures of Portugal predicted to start the works that represent an investment of 22 million for the structural reinforcement of the Ponte Marechal Carmona, on the river Tagus, located on the National Road 10, in Vila Franca de Xira.

“IP informs that the rehabilitation undertaking of the Maréchal Carmona Bridge is in the final phase of the hiring process, estimating that the consignment and the respective beginning of the works may take place by the end of June”, indicated source of IP, in a brief written response sent at the time to the Lusa agency.

However, following the announcement made, complications began to be predicted along with that which is one of the main entrance and exit doors of the municipality of Benavente. And in less than a month from the beginning of the works, the complaints add up every day.

“I left Samora at 7:20, arrived in Vila Franca at 8:15. Do we find this normal?”, one internet user complained on social networks, while another states that “I was here also 45 minutes longer than normal. It is incomportable”.

Every day, complaints like these are added among the group of residents in the region, who question: “But don’t the engineers of this work see what’s going on?”.

O News to Minutes he knows that the circulation on this bridge, which was done in three ways, is now reduced to two. Everything could be done with some normality, except that every day, and all the time, dozens of trucks pass by. It is precisely the passage of these that have caused embarrassment because the available routes require trucks to slow down or stop the movement every time they cross the bridge. 

Solutions are asked: end of tolls or trucks

From an early age, we seek solutions to the constraints expected during the 900 days of work. In June, remember, the Municipality of Benavente asked the Government for total exemption from the toll payment on these sections or, alternatively, the suspension of the charge in the periods of greater traffic, between 7am and 10am and between 4:30pm and 7:30pm for those travelling on A1, A10 or A13, using the Lezíria Bridge as an alternative.

The idea, however, was not accepted by the IP, which ensured at the time that circulation would not be affected. Which has not been happening.

Among those who pass the bridge on a daily basis, it is also asked, as another solution, to ban the passage of trucks through the bridge during this period.

“If the state demands understanding of citizens in the face of the inevitable inconveniences of the work, then it also has a duty to create conditions to minimize its impacts,” the locals recall.

The Marechal Carmona Bridge, remember, ensures the fundamental link between the two banks of the Tagus River, assuming itself vital for the populations, being one of the most important links between the north and the south of the country in logistical terms for the circulation of goods, writes the municipality of Benavente.