Ronda to Marbella road expected to be totally out of action until at least August

Storm Jana last weekend may have boosted water reserves across Malaga province but it also caused some major problems on the roads with the peak tourist season fast approaching.

Due to the rockslide last Saturday on the main road which connects inland Ronda with the Costa del Sol at San Pedro - the A-397 - this key link will be closed at least until August, the regional government estimated on Thursday this week. The carriageway has suffered substantial damage.

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By August at the earliest, only one lane would be open however, meaning traffic in both directions would need to be controlled by traffic lights. The full width of the road may not be open for six months, officials have said.

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The alternatives for people to travel between San Pedro Alcántara, near Marbella, and Ronda are two much longer routes: via Gaucín and Manilva; or Ardales and Coín. However, this means that drivers will need nearly twice as long - nearly two hours - to get to their destination.

The rockslide happened at the Los Madroños pass around midday last Saturday, when the boulders fell, covering the entire road and causing damage to a span of the supporting viaduct which the road runs over. The closure is within the municipality boundary of Benahavís between kilometres 13 (Parauta), and 38.3.

Regional government technicians said, "As the landslide has occurred halfway up the mountainside, where the road runs on a viaduct, it is technically impossible to set up a provisional detour as has been done in other cases." Traffic will only be restored fully once the road has been repaired.

The non-stop rainfall in recent days - and fear of more slips - has meant that work could not start this week on removing the substantial amount of debris, which has meant that work repairing the road has had to wait too. The technicians have explained that the task in hand is very difficult because that part of the road first needs to be demolished before it can be rebuilt.

"But there is the added complication that the [mountainside] slope, which is over 200 metres high, has been badly affected and also needs to be stabilised to make it safe to pass through again," said the regional government.

The blockage affects around 7,500 vehicles a day, including commuting workers, hauliers and tourists who use the A-397. Traffic flow on this road ranges from 4,400 vehicles a day at the Ronda exit to 9,700 upon arrival in San Pedro Alcántara. On the damaged section, from Benahavís to the Igualeja junction with the MA-7304, average daily traffic exceeds 7,000 vehicles.

Inspections of the damage have not ceased because of the rainfall. Technicians have been working in the area since Saturday, when the landslide occurred. They also began installing lifelines on Monday for the initial manual clearing of rocks, collaborating with a company specialising in vertical work which is working on the ground.

The activation of an emergency budget means that the work can be done as quickly as possible, without the restrictions of having to put it out to contract.

The size of the landslide is impressive, to say the least: on a 90-metre-high slope, blocking 3,000 square metres of road and a 250-metre stretch in Benahavís.

"We are very aware of how this affects the economy of the area," said Patricia Navarro, the regional government's delegate for Malaga province.