The Governing Board of the Provincial Council of Almeria has approved the award of the construction of a public car park in San Fernando de Macael street, in the heart of the municipality, where the commercial area is located, with a budget of more than 516,000 euros.
In this way, the surroundings of the Plaza Almería in Macael will be transformed, improving services and comfort for visitors to this area who, once the work is completed, will be able to enjoy a new car park with up to 34 parking spaces, including for people with reduced mobility, divided into a three-storey building.
The vice-president of the Provincial Council and deputy for Development, Ángel Escobar, explained that with this action “we are providing a more efficient and economical solution than the other existing alternative of building a car park in Plaza Almería. With the car park in Calle San Fernando we have saved 300,000 euros and gained more parking spaces as we will have 34 instead of the 27 we had with the other option”.
In this sense, the vice-president emphasised that “we are responding to an important need that the Macael Town Council has conveyed to us, a key municipality in the province and the Almanzora due to its economic and commercial activity. The car park will reactivate the municipality socially and economically, will be an important boost for its productive fabric, will encourage trade and, at the same time, will promote tourism because residents and visitors will gain in comfort”.
For his part, the Mayor of Macael, Raúl Martínez, highlighted the institutional collaboration and the role of the Provincial Council in the implementation of this project “fundamental for the development of our municipality”, and stressed that “the change in the initial project represents a significant saving that will allow us to take on other initiatives in the municipality”.
As for the new car park, the mayor pointed out that parking will be free for 90 minutes on weekdays and during business hours, after which there will be a charge. Outside business hours, including daily evenings, public holidays and weekends, the car park, which will always remain open, will be free of charge. With this, as Martínez stated, “we want there to be movement in the centre, so that residents have the maximum facilities to do their shopping or any other business in the centre”.
The building has been designed with a ground floor, first floor and roof, partially roofed, with separate entrances for vehicles and people, taking advantage of the orography and the elevations of San Fernando and San Andrés streets. The car park has been conceived as a permanently open building, with no windows, doors or grilles to close it off.
Vehicle entry barriers will be provided to control access, requiring vehicle recognition equipment, ticket dispensers at the entrances and a cash dispenser to be located on the ground floor. In order to facilitate vehicle access along Calle San Andrés, the project envisages continuing the alignment of the wall of the Post Office building, so that the new building does not contribute to the narrowing of this street, which will have a 1.8 metre wide pavement.
The structure of the building will be very simple, with open-plan floors and only one façade, the one facing Calle San Fernando, consisting of pillars, beams and concrete slabs. The existing retaining walls of the adjoining buildings will be used.