Plans to widen the busy CV-95 between Orihuela and Torrevieja have taken one step forward but two back with construction is now unlikely to begin before 2028.
The Valencian Government has awarded engineering company Typsa a €1.32 million contract to prepare the basic design and the technical, financial, environmental and administrative documents needed for the project, however, this design work is expected to take more than 20 months.
Unless the timetable is shortened, the plans will not be completed until around April 2028.
This means the regional government’s previous suggestion that work could begin in 2027 will not be met as construction can only be put out to tender after the project has been approved.
The proposed scheme covers approximately 26.5 kilometres of the CV-95, passing through or alongside Orihuela, Bigastro, Jacarilla and San Miguel de Salinas. The road currently has only one lane in each direction and carries around 10,000 vehicles per day along most sections. Traffic rises to more than 20,000 vehicles daily near Torrevieja, with even greater pressure during the summer.
Typsa will study several possible improvements, including widening the road and building bypasses to reduce traffic passing through populated areas. The main aims are to increase capacity, improve road safety and provide a better connection between inland Vega Baja and the coast.
The complete project is expected to cost around €180 million. The Generalitat does not intend to pay the full construction cost immediately. Instead, it plans to use an availability-payment concession.
Under this arrangement, a private company would finance and build the road, then maintain and operate it for an agreed period. The regional government would repay the company through annual payments, provided the road remained available and properly maintained. Drivers would not pay tolls.
The section between Torrevieja Hospital and the N-332 bypass is expected to be excluded. Torrevieja Mayor Eduardo Dolón has said this stretch will be partly delivered by the developer of the La Ceñuela housing sector, with some regional funding.
Efforts to create a faster road between Orihuela and Torrevieja date back more than 30 years. A motorway project was awarded in 2007 but stopped by the courts because it lacked the required environmental assessment. After the scheme was abandoned, the contractors received €10 million in compensation despite construction never beginning.
Later regional governments focused mainly on installing roundabouts and improving dangerous junctions. In April 2025, Regional Minister Vicente Martínez Mus announced the new concession model and suggested construction could start in 2027.
The latest contract confirms that this timetable has slipped. Even when the design is completed in 2028, the project will still require approval, financing and the selection of a private concessionaire before work can begin.
