Benidorm council are undertaking a €400,000 project to resurface a section of the Avd Mediterraneo – the main artery running through the resort, which is scheduled to be finished for the weekend. July see’s a huge influx of holidaymakers into the resort and they are up against the clock to complete the works, so have drafted in extra machinery... at what cost I wonder.
Am I the only person wondering why they stared this during the busiest time of the year? Surely logic, which seems to be somewhat lacking at the town hall would have dictated that they should be doing this out of season…. causing minimum disruption to everyone. The one sensible thing that they are doing is putting a roundabout in half way along, just before the casino.
The project also involves the creation of a central bike lane – similar to the ones all across the old town. Firstly, how many holidaymakers actually use a bike? Those that work in the centre certainly don’t bike in so what minority group are they pandering too and why? Have they conducted a survey to access demand – I doubt it. Holidaymakers walk down to the beach every morning, chairs and cool boxes in hand – how would they manage all that on a bike?
What the millions of holidaymakers DO need are public toilets on the beach. Presently there is one portakabin on the side road just past the Hotel Cimbel, which always has a queue and a single toilet cubicle at the end of the Levante, by the cableski.
Holidaymakers are the bread and butter of the resort – wake up and smell the coffee. The town hall need to ensure that they are providing the basic services to ensure that they keep coming back here. The first aid points, stripped wooden huts are well manned, with trained first aiders and defibrillators and the lifeguards are fantastic. I recently witnessed a lady in difficulty in the water and within one minute there were 8 on the scene, pulling her out and resuscitating.
The beaches have yet again received a blue flag for water quality – I bet that they don’t test the water in the middle of the day, when everyone is taking a pee in the sea because there isn’t anywhere else. There ought to be dedicated facilities, which includes lockers to store valuables that is manned, allowing people to relax on the beach instead of having to keep watch of their bags.
However, credit where it is due - they do have excellent facilities for the disabled on the Levante beach which is fantastic. There is a shaded decked area, water buggies and trained personnel on hand to help… that’s one thing which they have got right so well done there.
Back on the issue of the bike lane – the biker groups that come here to train certainly don’t come into the centre and they definitely don’t use the bike lanes, instead opting to ride 3 or 4 abreast, causing traffic mayhem behind them.
They are currently painting broken red lines down the middle of many roads heading towards the new town – adding to the blue bays and yellow no parking… as if anyone takes any notice of those and it will soon resemble a rainbow! What they really need here is a dedicated mobility scooter lane – once they have cracked down on who should even be allowed to hire them that is!
