WATCH: Roads to Spain’s ‘City of Dreams’ are a nightmare claim residents

RESIDENTS of Andalucia’s third most-visited city have launched a video calling for improved communication links.

Ronda, famous for its breath-taking El Tajo gorge spanned by the 100-metre-high ‘New Bridge’, attracts 1.5 million visitors from all around the world every year.

But getting to the city that sits 739m (2,400ft) above sea level is a nightmare according to local residents and businesses.

Now the Rondeños have had enough and have launched a campaign to try and improve things.

Pedro Porras, Bernardino Guerrero and Antonio Mariscal have created the ‘Plataforma Autovía Ronda YA’, which demands better road connections and they are collecting signatures to present to the authorities.

They have produced a video (watch it below) to seek action for improvements from the Junta de Andalucia and the national authorities.

The video, in a similar format to the ‘Help Catalonia’ video, has already gone viral and has been viewed more than 200,000 times.

Fronting it is Charlotte Wilmot, the British owner of a language school who has lived in the city for 15 years. 

The group point out that poor communications in the Serrania of Ronda are a historical problem.

They say, “Ronda is the only Andalucian city with more than 30,000 inhabitants that does not have a dual carriageway that links it to the Andalucian capitals, Malaga, Sevilla and Cádiz.”

“Five of the 10 worst roads in Malaga province are in the region. The A-397, that links the city to the Costa del Sol is considered one of the major black spots with a total of 365 curves in  45 kilometres.”

It is estimated that  nearly 20,000 vehicles use it daily including tourist coaches.

Several years ago there were plans on the table to link Ronda to the coast with a new road to the coast but the proposals were shelved.

And there were unfulfilled promises to link the city to the AVE high-speed train network.

The video has sparked some criticism that it will ‘negatively influence the arrival of visitors’.

But the action group defend it saying, “We do not agree. The video shows the reality of our roads. And we see that we have no choice but to attract people’s attention and raise awareness after 40 years of inaction at the local level and of the vacuum on the part of the regional and central administrations.”

To sign the petition – click here…