The project to improve access to the Plaza Mayor shopping centre in Malaga and its surroundings to the north is now entering its final stages, ... after over a year of works. It involves the construction of a road linking the southern carriageway of the airport road (the former N-340) with the existing elliptical roundabout at the north-east end of the complex, next to the Nike shop.
After nine months of work, the most complex part of this project, led by the companies that own Plaza Mayor, has successfully finished.
This involves the construction of a tunnel beneath the railway tracks so that the new road can cross the commuter rail line. It has been a slow process that has required the use of special shock absorbers, so that the structure for this underpass could advance little by little each day until it was positioned in its correct location.
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Now that this phase is over, work can begin on the road alignment. According to sources, the project, valued at over three million euros, could be ready by the end of next January.
The owners of Plaza Mayor are prepared to finance and carry out various road infrastructure projects in order to clear the way for a new expansion of the retail area, which involves gaining 14,000 square metres for the eastward expansion of the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet and a further 7,500 square metres to extend the existing Plaza Mayor shopping centre westwards, occupying part of the car park next to the Guadalmar motorway.
The new road link heads north and will be connected to an exit and access lane leading to Avenida de Velázquez (formerly the N-340). Prior to the construction of the tunnel beneath the commuter railway lines, they also had to carry out a complex task: the dismantling of a bridge that spanned the railway line.
Workers broke the structure of this bridge into several sections, which they then dismantled and removed in a delicate operation in the early hours of the morning, so as not to disrupt the operation of the Costa commuter rail service.
In addition to this new access to Plaza Mayor and its surroundings from the north, the shopping centre's owners are prepared to develop other road infrastructure in order to secure approval for the new expansion of its floor space.
These include widening the southern carriageway of the Guadalmar dual carriageway with two additional lanes, the widening of the Campo de Golf road and even the construction of a park-and-ride facility to alleviate traffic jams caused by commuters on the Cercanías service who leave their cars there to travel by train to the centre of Malaga.
Around 600 or 700 cars in this shopping centre's car park belong to people who park there to catch the C1 train.
The private sector is confident that it will be able to secure final approval for the expansion project before the end of this year, although the project has encountered several negative rulings from the local authority's transport department.
The companies that own the shopping centre (Plaza Mayor Shopping, Doc Málaga Siteco and Doc Málaga Siteco Phase 2) anticipate a cost of 105 million euros in the new extension. The loss of above-ground car park spaces will be offset by new underground spaces, bringing the total to 3,846.
Under a 2021 urban planning agreement, in exchange for incorporating this project into the plan, the city council will receive 3.8 million euros (in two instalments) and gain a 53,725-square-metre leisure and recreation park, next to the San Julián area, which will include a football pitch. This park, also funded by Plaza Mayor, will cost around 1,611,750 euros.