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The last stretch which was to be finalized, the 6Kms between Arrasate and Eskoriatza were finally inaugurated yesterday. It has required an investment totaling €700 million and is deemed to be the alternative to the saturated N-1.
Gipuzkoa and Álava are linked up, as from yesterday by a modern safe motorway. It is a state-of-the-art infrastructure and is deemed to become one of the major European links. The Arlaban mountain range is now history, as happened with Azpiroz after the opening of the Navarra motorway.
As all large projects which are undertaken in Gipuzkoa, the beginnings of the AP-1 were controversial. Currently, no-one doubts about the correctness of the project. The area, especially in the Duda Valley, finally has an exit to the plateau without the inconveniences of the obsolete N-1, albeit having to pay a toll.
Ten years have been needed to finish, which in the words of the Regional representatives, has been “the most ambitious public work in their history”. It might be considered an overstatement (the railway tunnels were under the Aitz-korri in the XIX Century), but it is true that this motorway now eliminates the physical wall which separated Gipuzkoa from the Aleves Plains. In fact, the effect which is produced on crossing the 3,407m Izuskitza tunnel is the same one perceives on entering the Navarra motorway via Dos Hermanas. The climate and landscape suddenly change.
The construction of the first stretch between Eibar and Bergara began in 1999. The last, between Arrasate and Eskoriatza, was inaugurated yesterday. The opening ceremony of the latter was held close to the 408m long, cable-stayed Arbizelai Viaduct, which is difficult not to go unnoticed.
The inauguration brought together the three General Authorities under whose leadership the new motorway has been constructed: Román Sudupe, Joxe Joan Gonzalez de Txabarri and Markel Olano. The first, now retired from politics, recalled the beginnings of the project. “I remember when I proposed to the Representatives Committee (tripartite agreement PNV-PSE-EA) the need to create a pool of money to start up the Project. There was the odd representative who did not want to hear about saving quantities to start a project which was so much in the air, but in the end the decision was taken. And here we are”.
Sudupe recognized that the motorway had been able to be done thanks to fifteen years of record tax collections from the Regional Tax Office, in a period of economic buoyancy. “This is true – he stated – but your sails must be raised to catch the wind”.
As well as the aforementioned representatives, the Councilor for Transport, Iñaki Arriola; the President for the General Committees, Rafaela Romero; the representative for Alava Public Works, Luis Zarrabeitia and the Mayor of Arrasate, Inocencia Galparsoro, were also present.
6.3 kilometers
The stretch opened to traffic yesterday is neither the most complicated nor the most expensive on the AP-1, but it was the last and it has the honor of placing the final touch to the Works. From five o’clock yesterday afternoon, the Eibar to Victoria stretch can be travelled on along its entire length.
The Arrasate-Eskoriatza stretch is 6.3Km long and crosses an abrupt orography via two viaducts; Arbizelai and Basagoiti and the tunnels; Gurutzetxiki, Izurieta and Apotzaga.
The cost has risen to €185 million, averaging €30 million per kilometer. The works began in January 2006 and have been carried out by Dragados, Moyua, Geotúen and Obras Subterráneas.
Previously, in Gipuzkoa the stretches Maltzaga-Bergara (December 2003), Bergara north-south (July 2004), Bergara-Arrasate (July 2005) and Eskoriatza-Isuskitza (April 2009) were opened. The latter was the most complex as it included the longest road tunnel in Euskadi (3,407m) and sophisticated technology employing the most modern safety systems.
Everything on the Eibar-Vitoria motorway sounds ginormous. The 32Km of motorway in Gipuzkoa run along the Deba Valley between Eibar and La Muga with Alava, crossing a broken terrain which needed the construction of 11 tunnels and 12 viaducts.
More than half of the length (17Km) in Gipuzkoa is fulfilled under tunnels or over viaducts, which is a solution offering a minimal environmental impact but obliging a greater spending. The investment made by the Regional Government to construct the Guipuzcoa Stretch was more than €700 million. The motorway has been totally paid with the money from the people from Guipuzcoa: neither from the Basque Government, nor central, nor European have placed a single Euro.
