The Secretary of State for Transport and Sustainable Mobility, José Antonio Santano, has today valued the actions on the road of the Hermida Gorge, an emblematic work for the construction of public works in this country, with an investment between 2018 and 2025 of almost 114 million euros for various actions.

In the visit to the works of La Hermida, the Secretary of State was accompanied by the Government delegate in Cantabria, Pedro Casares, the Government delegate in Asturias, Adriana Lastra, the Minister of Transport of Cantabria, Roberto Media as well as mayors of several municipalities in the area, who have been able to verify that the works are executed in 76%, proof of the commitment of the Government with Cantabria and Asturias.

In particular, the Secretary of State has explained that this is the ongoing action of conditioning the N-621 along 17.2 km between Castro Cillorigo – Panes, with almost 90 million euros of budget, to expand the platform through the construction of retaining walls and cantilever structures on the river in the gorge, as well as the provision of dynamic barriers to contain the fall of rocks, to increase protection and security against possible falls.

Santano has stated that the improvement achieved with these performances will be very noticeable. In this regard, he said that “travel times are being reduced, and safety and accessibility are increasing as we are rectifying dangerous curves, expanding the road platform as much as possible to 8 m and improving drains and signage”.

He also stressed that the actions are aimed at facilitating the use of the road by cyclists and pedestrians, adapting existing viewpoints and stopping areas and conditioning parking areas.

The Secretary of State has emphasized that the road needed a refurbishment of its route, which began to materialize from 2018 with the works of rectification of curves of low radius and the improvement of the four bridges that exist on the Deva River, in which 7.8 million euros have been invested. These works aim to gain safety and comfort for people, for which the best possible solution for their conditioning is analyzed at each point of the road, making it compatible with the conditions of the route.

In addition, he wanted to remember that every year 1.25 million euros are allocated to the ordinary conservation work of this corridor, and since 2018 extraordinary conservation actions have been promoted for an amount of almost 7 million euros.