Inspection works have been completed
Traffic restrictions have been lifted on the New Arade Bridge between Portimão and Lagoa after months of inspections works on its suspension cables.
On Friday (December 6), Lagoa municipal council announced that the works had been “completed successfully” by subconcessionaire Rotas do Algarve and that traffic would would return to normal on Saturday.
Since September 16, traffic on the bridge had been limited to just one lane, with traffic lights managing the alternating traffic flow, leading to major bottlenecks, particularly during rush hour.
These works often ended up overloading the only other non-paid alternative to the bridge – the ‘old’ bridge over the Arade River, linking Portimão to Parchal – as drivers attempted to escape the bottlenecks without having to pay tolls on the A22 motorway.
With the end of the inspection works, traffic on the New Arade Bridge is flowing much more smoothly, albeit with more lane dividers than ever before – an attempt by authorities to limit the number of serious road accidents that have occured on or near the bridge this year.
