Fed up with Elviria queues? Marbella wants the A-7 exit reopened

Drivers in Elviria and Las Chapas have had weeks of slow journeys since an A-7 exit closed in September, and Marbella Town Hall now wants it back. It plans to ask the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility to reopen the motorway exit towards both areas, near La Vibora, for the time being.

What the town hall is asking for

Mayor Angeles Muñoz announced that the town hall’s governing board, has approved sending an urgent report to the ministry. Town hall teams for infrastructure and planning wrote it, with help from the Traffic department and the Local Police. It asks for a short-term fix until the planned roadworks in the area are done.

Muñoz criticised the closure, saying it happened “unilaterally and without prior notice” to the town hall, residents and affected businesses. She said a 2021 permit from the central government’s state roads office allowed some connections to be removed. The same permit covered a new southern service road and changes to the Elviria junction. Neither has been finished. The town hall says it sent a formal request on September 23 to reopen the exit straight away and has had no reply as yet.

What drivers have been facing

Marbella’s report includes the findings of a Local Police study dated October 15, based on inspections, photographs and traffic analysis. Problems listed include cars bunching up on Avenida Jardines de la Golondrina, queues and rear-end collisions near the A-7, and more traffic on inner streets with one lane each way. Some stretches of road surface are also in poor condition.

Pedestrians are more exposed near schools and commercial areas, the report warns. Residents, hotels, holiday accommodation and restaurants are affected too. According to Muñoz, the Elviria junction now takes traffic that used to be spread across other entrances, and it does not have the right layout for that much traffic.

Parents from the English International College are getting increasingly frustrated, “the simple school run is now messy, frustrating and a complete inconvenience. It needs sorting”

The 95-metre plan

Marbella wants only the exit back, not the slip road onto the A-7, which it believes could be more dangerous. A slowing-down lane of about 95 metres, with a 40 km/h limit, would lead into roughly 40 metres of town road up to the roundabout on Avenida Víbora Baja.

Muñoz said this would restore access with road safety in mind while the southern service road and the final Elviria junction changes are carried out. The town hall says it would ease pressure on the junction, reduce queues reaching the A-7, cut extra journeys and spread traffic more evenly.