An 83 km cycle path, consigned this week, which crosses the municipalities of Figueira da Foz, Cantanhede and Mira, and a new bridge with a cycle path, will involve a total investment of more than six million euros.
The work on the Eurovelo 1 route - a project of the Coimbra Region Intermunicipal Community (CIM/RC) which is part of the European Atlantic Coast Route - has now been consigned, and is an investment of 2.3 million euros (1.5 million financed by Turismo de Portugal), with an execution period of 18 months.
It stretches for 83 kilometers (km) between the south of the municipality of Figueira da Foz and the north of the municipality of Mira, crossing the adjacent municipality of Cantanhede along the coast and passing by places such as the Praia de Mira Ethnographic Museum, the National Forests and their lagoons, Cape Mondego, the Mondego estuary and the Seiça Monastery, among others.
Outside of this project, but part of the Eurovelo 1 route, is the new bridge over the River Mondego, to the east of Figueira da Foz, between the parishes of Vila Verde, on the right bank, and Alqueidão, on the left bank, with a carriageway and a cycle and pedestrian path, the tender for which will be launched this month, in an investment of over four million euros, said the mayor, Carlos Monteiro (PS) today.
“Without a bridge, there is no Eurovelo,” Carlos Monteiro told Lusa, alluding to the need for the new cycle path to cross the River Mondego at that location and then extend south to the parish of Marinha das Ondas, thus covering 83 km from the north of the municipality of Mira.
In March, the new bridge, which will also have an 18-month construction period, had an estimated total cost of 3.4 million euros: “Today, with the cost of materials and the lack of materials, it's already more than four million,” he said.
During his speech at the signing of the contract, the mayor recalled the “many months” that elapsed between the signing of the contract and the authorization of the Court of Auditors “because the work is multi-annual”.
“And in this day and age, with prices rising, it can't have been beneficial for Civibérica,” said Carlos Monteiro, thanking the company responsible for the work for their ‘patience’, as well as the “difficult and very time-consuming work” of the CIM/RC technicians.
This is what the new cycle path and bridge across the Mondego will look like
The mayor highlighted the advantages of the cycle path and the bicycles that travel on it, on the one hand as a contribution to reducing greenhouse gases and, on the other, in the case of Eurovelo 1, which follows “the entire coastline of the CIM territory”, because it “strengthens territorial cohesion” between three “close and adjoining” municipalities.
This reinforcement, explained Carlos Monteiro, involves the rehabilitation of the existing forest roads that cross the national forests of the three municipalities, which have been left untouched for years and have sections that are perfectly impassable, and which will now be rehabilitated to receive the cycle path.
“We're not going to waterproof any more territory, we're going to recover what was already waterproofed,” said the mayor of Figueira da Foz, claiming that the recovery of the forest road surface “was very much desired by everyone”, especially the residents of the areas where the new cycle path will pass.
In addition to the recovered forest road surface, the new cycle path will have “compacted” sections (in dirt) and others paved, and, “in addition to the functional component, it has a strong tourist component,” he said.
Source: idealistanews