The El Barrio roadworks are still underway and it looks like the final stages of the underground work are being completed as the workmen lay the surface drains. Once this work is complete, the road will be repaved with with red and grey marble paving blocks.
Work is also being carried out just in front of the church, where part of the road has been dug up to gain access to the pipes beneath.
Whilst the work is underway, pedestrians are advised to use Calle Diputacion (the next street up from El Barrio) to avoid the roadworks. One passerby has already fallen into the excavations and had to be rescued by the workmen.
The project is part of the council’s plan to have a pedestrianised route all the way from the western end of Burriana beach to the car park/riverside path at Chaparil. Work has already been completed from the eastern end of town to the centre, and from the other side of El Barrio out towards the river. As such this is the final piece in the link between the two sides of town.
As mentioned above, the aim of the project is to not only to pedestrianise this route across town, but is also part of the on-going work improving and modernising the sewerage system, on which the council claims to have already spent over €1M euros. The location for the new water treatment plant on the eastern side of town has been decided, and all that remains for the project to get underway is for the various branches of government (local, regional and national) to sign-off on the plans and issue the necessary licenses. The local council are also seeking to have the money they have already spent on improving the underground pipe networks, refunded out of the budget for the new treatment plant, as this is work that would have had to be undertaken as part of that project.