Yesterday, 26 September, Minister of Development José Blanco presided over the ribbon-cutting and opening of the new sections of Dual Carriageway A-4, the "Autovía del Sur", crossing Despeñaperros Natural Park. The FCC executives present included CEO Baldomero Falcones and other representatives.

The new sections now open to traffic add up to 14.1 kilometres in length. The northbound lanes heading toward Madrid, which string together the cities of Santa Elena, Venta de Cárdenas and Ciudad Real, account for 9.4 kilometres of the total. The remaining 4.7 kilometres, which run between Santa Elena and Aldeaquemada, are the southbound lanes heading for Andalucía. They contain the Aldeaquemada junction and the Santa Elena, El Manantial and Las Tinajuelas viaducts. The southbound lanes are scheduled for their definitive opening in 2012.

With a total investment of 245 million euro, this project has made it possible to transform a traditionally critical section of road into a modern, safe highway that is friendly to the surrounding area, a natural park of incalculable ecological value. Eight million euro were earmarked for reducing the environmental impact of the road on the landscape: Crossings for native wildlife have been widened; work is being done to recover unique local species such as the Centaurea tricolor; stream beds and shores will be cleaned and the habitat of the rabbit and lynx will be improved.

The section opened to traffic has required 190 million euro of the total investment. It features three 3.5-metre-wide lanes in each direction and 2.5-metre-wide verges. The infrastructure, which currently bears an average daily traffic of around 24,000 vehicles (30% heavy vehicles) is expected eventually to be able to accommodate around 57,000 vehicles by the year 2030.

The layout runs to the province of Ciudad Real with a rising grade of 3%, travelling through a rough and broken landscape. First it crosses the bed of the Despeñaperros River, with a 380-metre-long viaduct; next it goes through La Cantera Tunnel, which is 240 metres long, and Despeñaperros Tunnel, which is 1,925 metres long. Then a 70-metre-long arch viaduct crosses a gorge, Arroyo Cuchareros, followed by El Corzo Tunnel, which is 420 metres long. The route crosses the Magaña River last of all before joining up to Dual Carriageway A-4's current layout at Venta de Cárdenas, in the province of Ciudad Real.