Alto Minho's Ten Mayors Want 300 Million Euros for Roads, Including a New Bridge Across the River to Galicia
Half of the road traffic between Portugal and Spain crosses in the Alto Minho, their spokesman says. Their one-page list starts with a Valença, Monção and Melgaço bypass and an extension of the A28.
The ten mayors of the Alto Minho, Portugal's north-western corner along the Spanish border, have asked the government for 300 million euros of road investment, and their spokesman says he has no doubt it will come. António Barbosa, president of the Alto Minho Intermunicipal Community (CIM) and mayor of Monção, told Lusa on Monday that the Infrastructure Minister had promised the investment would be set out in a Council of Ministers resolution during 2026.
"There has to be a positive answer from the government. I have absolutely no doubt," Barbosa said. The resolution, he added, "will have to follow the document presented by the CIM and the priorities approved by the ten mayors, who know the territory like no one else".
Half of the traffic to Spain
The mayors' case rests on the region's economy. About 50 percent of road traffic between Portugal and Spain crosses the border in the Alto Minho, according to Barbosa, and the district's exports are heading for three billion euros a year. Several of its municipalities, he said, have been gaining population steadily since the last census.
"We are not asking for roads to give these places a future. We are asking for roads to respond to the economy the Alto Minho already has," he said. He wants work to start within the current term: "Beyond appearing in a document, we want to get to work immediately."
The priority list
The mayors' document fits on a single sheet of A4 paper, Barbosa said. For immediate action it lists:
- a Valença, Monção and Melgaço bypass running to Salvaterra de Miño in Galicia, with a new international crossing close to the A52, the Spanish motorway linking Galicia to Madrid;
- an extension of the A28 motorway from Vila Nova de Cerveira to the Sapardos junction, or to the future Valença bypass;
- in the Lima valley, a link to the Madalena border crossing (the IC28 route), with the upgrading of the EN203 and of the EN304-1 between Ponte da Barca and Lindoso;
- a bypass for Ponte de Lima, and a direct rail link to the seaport of Viana do Castelo.
For the longer term, the mayors want preliminary studies to begin on a new bridge over the river Minho between Caminha and A Guarda, landing on the Portuguese side at Seixas. They also ask for the realignment of the EN101 between Arcos de Valdevez and Monção, and for fixes to the bottlenecks on the roads linking Paredes de Coura to its neighbours: the EN306 to Ponte de Lima, the EN303 to Arcos de Valdevez and the EN301 to Monção.
Why it matters
The Alto Minho covers the ten municipalities of the Viana do Castelo district. Much of the traffic Barbosa describes moves between the Minho and Galicia, and away from the motorways it runs on national roads, several of which the mayors single out as bottlenecks.
The government has not yet published the resolution, or said how much of the 300 million euros it is willing to commit. The mayors' document names priorities and routes, but no project in it has a finished design, an environmental assessment or a timetable.
