Residents of Casa de Campo and Colonia de Manzanares have found themselves divided once again since the city council forced the demolition of the old San Pol de Mar bridge, which pedestrians have crossed since the 1980s. … Along M-30. Passersby in the area say only a “few” people are aware of the alternative routes available to them. It is nothing but a tunnel that was once only for cars, but is now closed to traffic for environmental reasons, except for exceptional cases such as police and fire trucks. In this way, just one year ago, pedestrians were able to cross the road in a matter of minutes… and do so in a hurry, “despite fear”.
Recognizing the state of this infrastructure, the darkness, the graffiti, the smell of urine, the cobwebs that accompany walks, the Works and Facilities Area, led by Paloma Garcia, began work in November this year to adapt the paths that neighbors like Karina take every week. This middle-aged woman usually does so with the same friends she had when she crossed the sidewalk to Casa de Campo. “We passed quickly, because you go into a place where someone might be waiting for you and no one can see you,” he said, pointing with his index finger to a curve in the tunnel where the light barely reached. “This is a scary passage,” says Karina. It’s a similar word to that used by Mercedes, 65, who calls walking in nature “beautiful” and the tunnel to get there “scary.”
You can have the same experience on the other side of the underpass. A couple from Alto de Extremadura are walking fast. They typically repeat the same route four to five times a month, always together, prioritizing daylight hours. At least, 65-year-old Anna doesn’t have the “courage” to cross this bridge alone. All these pedestrians therefore welcome the idea of lighting the tunnels, cleaning the tunnels and abolishing the current temporary fence that separates pedestrian and vehicular exceptional traffic.
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New pedestrian access
From Paseo del
Commander Fortea
M-30 access
(north) by
underpass
fountain: madrid city council /ABC
New access location
New pedestrian access
From Paseo del
Commander Fortea
M-30 access
(north) by
underpass
bridge
queen victoria
fountain: madrid city council /ABC
Works are expected to begin in November this year and extend until the end of next year to allow residents to open the crossing in 2027, the Works and Facilities Department told the ABC. Currently, the tunnel is 70 meters long and 5.20 meters wide, with two entrances and a curved shape. The walls are made of brick and the roof is made of prefabricated beams. The works, with a budget of 1.3 million euros, will solve both the aesthetics and conditions as well as the access to the underpass, maintaining its scale in any case, albeit on a single platform, and adding new accesses.
This will allow residents to access the tunnel in three ways. Two from Colonia de Manzanares and one from Casa de Campo. In fact, two current entrances have been maintained, one from Plaza Morelas, one parallel to M-30 near Dr. Casal, and one added from Comandante Fortea. According to the same city source, the new access “overcomes a 2.5-metre step difference between both roads and is located in an urban area dominated by mixed-use buildings.”
The project pays particular attention to both new accessibility regulations and functionality, complying with ramps without excessive gradients. Routes will be as short as possible, Cibeles indicates, “with the aim of reducing the time spent in underground passages and designing the itinerary to avoid ups and downs in favor of more agile and efficient routes.”
Meanwhile, the tunnel will go from having two lanes (one for pedestrians and one for authorized vehicles) to a single shared platform. The method of ensuring a wide space for pedestrians to cross and only leaving the crosswalk when a car approaches is “restricted based on city police regulations” as an exception.
In terms of aesthetics, the tunnel has been modernized. So leave the brick behind and welcome smooth, shiny finishes, metals and tiles. As can be deduced from the as-built images provided by the works area, the length and width of the entrance and hallway will be illuminated by lights built into the ceiling.
Furthermore, the Madrid City Council emphasizes that the entire design is environmentally friendly, classified as a cultural asset (BIC), and therefore “environmentally friendly” and has been approved by the Regional Heritage Committee.
All these changes will make Karina, Mercedes or Ana say goodbye to the “Tunnel of Terror” within a year. “All improvements in the city are welcome, but they also need to be designed in such a way that they do not have a major impact on the neighboring residents,” warns Karina, who predicts that the construction of a new access from Colonia de Manzanares, which connects directly to the Comandante Fortea pass, may cause inconvenience. Similarly, these women have agreed to recommend that the city council install surveillance cameras in new construction to avoid graffiti and dangerous conditions inside the tunnels.
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