How long will it take to reopen the Ronda-San Pedro Alcántara road after it was totally blocked by major landslide?

Ignacio Lillo

Málaga

Tuesday, 11 March 2025, 10:43 | Updated 18:42h.

Following the major landslide that happened on the road between Ronda and San Pedro Alcántara around midday on 8 March, on Monday the Junta de Andalucía regional government mobilised technicians to start removing the rocks from the vital route for commuting workers and tourists. The heavy torrential rains over the weekend caused damage to the A-397, which is a key road in the province of Malaga, hence the urgency of the current road work. Workers will first have to clear the terrain, before any repair work is done and the road can be reopened for the 7,500 drivers who use it every day on average.

Naturally, the road has been closed since the landslide on Saturday. It is expected that the work to reopen it will take several months due to the complexity of the process and the severe damages caused to a viaduct in the municipality of Benahavís. The regional government cannot announce an exact date yet.

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The diversion of the usual Ronda-San Pedro traffic has already caused traffic jams and difficulties for those residents of Ronda and the Serranía who travel down to the Costa del Sol for work. The situation is also affecting Guadalhorce Valley residents. The only alternative routes they can take are the connection through Gaucín and Manilva, or the more popular Ardales and Coín. As well as being a much longer journey (about two hours), the local saturation of caravans further complicates the situation. It is technically impossible to make a temporary detour, as is done in other cases, due to the rockslide occurring right in the mid-slope area, where the road runs on the damaged viaduct.

Therefore, in order to reopen this route, it will first be necessary to demolish and rebuild that part of the road. The slope, which is over 200 metres high, also needs to be stabilised to make it safe to pass through again.

"Fortunately, we have not had to lament any situation greater than the destruction of the road. We are still evaluating the risks, but yesterday an emergency (order) was signed," said councillor for public work and transport Rocío Díaz. " We are already working: yesterday we used drones to make a preliminary assessment. Today we are working on meshes, but we have to wait for the technicians to say how far and how serious the matter is."

Díaz stated that the road will remain closed for the time being. "I hope that, over the next few days, the technicians will be able to give us more information on how long it will take to repair the road. Safety is paramount, so I ask for maximum caution and as soon as we have more technical information, we will provide it."