Mountain-stabilisation mesh installed on landslide-blocked A-397 Ronda-San Pedro road, in pictures

The repair work on the Ronda-San Pedro road (A-397) continues with the installing of a retaining mesh to stabilise the highest part of the slope above the road and the removal by heavy machinery of unstable rocks to ensure safety and prevent new landslides in the area, as reported on Sunday in a press statement from the regional ministry of public works.

The Junta statement explains that they have brought in more staff starting this week, so they now have 20 workers on the project, "the majority of whom are technical experts, climbing specialists, who are working seven days a week, including Saturdays and Sundays", repairing the damage caused by the storm, which forced the road to be completely closed to traffic.

The work is progressing while those most closely affected by the road closure raised their voices in protest on Saturday to demand an improvement in transport links for the whole area. The people took to the streets of Ronda in a massive demonstration to denounce the current situation, which has been worsened by the closure of the A-397 road.

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The Junta statement also states what repair work has been carried out over the last few days, focused firstly on putting up a retaining mesh that is anchored in the highest area of the slope above the road and, secondly, installing a three-metre high metal fence to prevent possible landslides. The 200-tonne-plus crane that served as a support tool for the work done higher up the slope has now been taken away and, in its place, a temporary ramp of earth has been created on the road to act as a raised platform so they can continue with the work of cleaning up and removing the unstable rocks in the lower part of this slope.

This ramp will allow access for new, heavy-lifting machinery to start working on Monday to remove unstable rocks in the rest of the areas affected by the landslide. This will include using an excavator with an extending arm that can reach up to 35 metres in height.

Regional minister for public works, Rocío Díaz, commented that she has valued "the enormous technical and human deployment to stabilise the mountainside as soon as possible and, from there, to begin reconstruction of the viaduct." She added that "The first containment measures have already been done as a matter of urgency and work is being sped up to reduce as much as possible the time needed before safely re-opening the road."

"This emergency work is being carried out in stages. Once the clean-up and clearing of rocks in the unstable area is completed, partial protection will be provided and rocks that have been considered potentially unstable will be removed. After this, a new dynamic screen [a barrier that can absorb the energy from land movement] will be built to protect against falling blocks of stone and, once this has been fixed, the public works department will begin demolition and reconstruction work on the damaged viaduct," states the press note.

The A-397 road from Ronda to San Pedro Alcántara had to be completely closed to traffic due to the serious damage caused by Storm Jana on 8 March. The damage was so severe that an alternative route along the road itself was ruled out from the outset. Also from the start, according to Díaz, the Junta has been committed to recovering "this key road for communication links between the Serranía de Ronda and the Costa del Sol."