The Next Stage

As we approach the 200 signature level, the response from the public has begun to slow down a bit. This was to be expected, and I'm well pleased with the results so far. Using the newspapers and through the direct appeal of the poster campaign, the number of signatures gained is roughly 10% of the daily users of the EN264.

Now we want more. Our target is still 650 signatures. To help us gain that number our latest weapon is the humble business card.


The message the card conveys is fairly self-explanatory. Once you have signed the petition as requested by the card, pass the card on to friends, family members and colleagues - and ask them to sign as well.

A PDF file of the card image is available by clicking HERE.

Print a page, cut them up and pass them around. These just may be our trump cards!

Adding Insult To Injury

The timing couldn't be better. Everywhere you look today for news, in print, on line, on TV - it's the same story.

Estradas de Portugal (EP), the QUANGO-ish organisation responsible for the country's roads, and in particular the EN264 between Algoz and Messines, has declared an 80 million euro profit for their operations in 2009.

EIGHTY MILLION EUROS!

When I said it seemed like EP was being paid by the hole (BIS post, A Pat On The Back, 17 January), I probably wasn't far wrong.

What a slap in the face for the drivers of the two thousand vehicles a day that use this road.

Now is not the time to be annoyed. Now is the time to get ANGRY! Here's 10 things you can do while you're MAD!

No 1. If you haven't already done so, sign the petition. If you have, but someone in you house hasn't, get them to sign the petition. If there are more than one of you in the house, EACH sign the petition in your own name. Numbers impress.

No 2. Send an email to Isobel Soares expressing your disgust. This road is in her county. The eddress of her office is gabinete.presidente@cm-silves.pt

No 3. File a complaint with Estradas de Portugal, http://www.estradasdeportugal.pt/index.php/form-estrada-livre

No 4. Contact the local press. Both The Algarve Resident and Get Real Weekly have run articles or letters about the state of the EN264.

No 5. Display the poster available from this blog. Put posters in your cars, in your home windows, in your places of employment. Put them on the roadside where other disgruntled motorists can see them.

No 6. Ask everyone you know to sign the petition, and ask them to contact everyone they know, requesting they do the same.

No 7. If you had the right to vote in the Silves election, contact the person you voted for and express your disgust at the state of this road. Even losing political parties have influence. Remember, in total there were a lot more people who voted against the incumbent than voted for her.

No 8. Follow the campaign on Twitter, @ www.twitter.com/en264petition

No 9. Take photographs of the damage to the EN264 Algoz - Messines road and send them to photos@en264.info

No 10. Check back here regularly. We are trying to get accurate translations of the relevant authority websites and forms, suitable to act as guides for non-Portuguese speakers.

Confusion Reigns

Yes, I have read the frequently referred to November 11 2009 press release issued by Estradas de Portugal about the planned remedial action to be taken about the EN264 Algoz - Messines road. I read it before I launched the petition. But I still launched the petition. Why?

Because I'm skeptical. And skepticism seems called for in respect of the EN264. Regardless of what EP has said, I would like to quote Isabel Soares, in a statement issued to and printed in The Algarve Resident in response to our appeal.

“We [Silves Câmara] cannot carry out the work. It is up to EP, which had planned it for their 2009 budget, but still nothing has been done.”

OK, a good start.

She continued, “This situation has been dragging for around 12 years and I have done much to bring it to EP’s attention."

Super. Let's look a bit closer at those comments.

Mrs Soares says that Estradas de Portugal had it allocated in the 2009 budget. Surely she should know. But nothing happened. So why should we expect it to be any different in 2010? Because EP said so on November 11th? Their track record in delivering on their promises is not actually what one might call impressive.

If, as Mrs Soares states, she has "done much to bring it to EP's attention", then I would hope that she views this campaign as a beneficial extension of her authority. She has the political contacts to ensure that Estradas de Portugal and the government minister/department responsible for the existence of Estradas de Portugal receive the message loudly and clearly. We have a growing body of discontent backing us, across all nationalities.

Using her position in conjunction with our petition, can EP continue to roll one year's promise into the following year, ad infinitum?

Crimes Against Tourists. And Residents.

Reprinted from Algarvean Daze

Assault and battery, extortion, break-ins, theft, highway robbery and murder. Just a few of the crimes commited against motorists using the EN264 road between Algoz and Sao Bartolomeu de Messines in the concelho (county) of Silves, in the Algarve.

Anyone using the road between Algoz and Messines knows how their vehicles have been assaulted by the unmaintained roadway, how their cars have been battered into a state often requiring expensive remedial maintenance. Visitors hiring cars know about the way that car-rental companies extort money to hedge their position against the many irreparably damaged tyres that festoon cars which have had the mis-fortune to use this 'road'.

Broken suspensions are frequent, stealing away from car owners the longevity of service that they expect when purchasing a new vehicle. The cost of this is not borne by the council or the state. The real cost of using this public road is paid by the motorists, the residents, the visitors, the taxpayers.

Will it take death on this road, a municipal homicide, to cause the local government officials to act on behalf of the people who elected them to serve?

Support the action against these crimes - WWW.EN264.INFO

A Pat On The Back

It doesn't really matter if it's because of the endeavours of our crusade, or in spite of them. The bottom line is that for whatever reason, someone decided that after weeks of municipal neglect, the time had come to reduce the size of some of the holes that make up Boulevard Isabel Soares, the EN 264.

While I did not personally see the work in progress, guests of ours did. Traveling through Algoz, they watched as workers shoveled tarmac from a truck into the cavities, then compressed and secured the black stuff firmly in place with a combination of the heels of their shoes and the backs of their shovels.

Having driven along the fruit of their labours a day or two later, the conclusion that I drew was that the contractors were paid by the hole. Diminutive dimples had been filled, while some abysmal abysses were as lethal as ever. Much of the tarmac, so lovingly stomped into place only days before had already been dislodged by the minuscule daily volume of only two thousand vehicles. However, on a positive note, the new tarmac is/was darker than the road around, so provides a visual indication of impending vehicular damage.

If you have a hole one meter by 85 centimeters by 15 centimeters deep, and you fill it 73% full, what are you left with? A hole.

Two Million Damaged Tyres

According to Estradas de Portugal (EP) the volume of traffic on the EN 264 is less than 2000 vehicles daily. How much less is anybody's guess. 27 is less than 2000. So is 1999. Nevertheless, an insignificant number, unworthy of intervention by Estradas de Portugal or by local government...

If we assume that the number is closer to 2000 than to zero, for example 1750, that equates to around 50,000 per average month. So, since the re-election of the incumbent government in Silves in early October, approximately 150,000 vehicles have driven along the 11km stretch of unmaintained potholes. My guess would be that none of these journeys were enjoyable.

By the time that EP has tendered for the repair of the road, assuming this occurs by the end of the first quarter as promised, another 150,000 vehicles will have traversed this stretch of the EN 264. Then how many more quarters until work commences? If it's only one trimester, ie work starts by the 1st of July, yet another 150,000 vehicles will have further destroyed the road surface.

From my perspective, this puts the best case scenario at close to a half million journeys - and potentially two million damaged tyres - between the time of the re-election of Isabel Soares' government and the possible commencement of roadworks. Is this really acceptable?

Six Hundred and Fifty

How many is enough? Good question. In the case of our petition, our carefully calculated initial target has now been set at 650. Of course, we would prefer 1650, or 2650. Or 6500. But keeping our feet firmly on the ever shifting ground that is the EN 264, We'll start with 650.

Why 650? Politics. Politicians put a lot of faith in numbers, in votes, in margins. So as not to disappoint Mrs Soares, we have used numbers that she and her party can relate to.

Referring to votes cast in the recent elections, Mrs Soares' government went into power on the strength of 6,751 votes, compared to the runner-up with 5,453 votes. The difference between the two frontrunners is 1,298 votes. Had half of that number, 649, cast their vote for the second-place party instead of Mrs Soares' party, the election would have been deadlocked.

So, our target is 650. Six Hundred and Fifty signatures, representing all that would have been necessary to oust the incumbent party from power. One vote more, one signature more.

Obviously, our signatures do not equate to votes. The symbolism can not, however, be denied. Ignore the will of the people Mrs Soares, the needs of the people, at your peril. You and your government may not be directly responsible for how Estradas de Portugal functions. But it is your job to intervene on behalf of those who elected you, with whatever agency is relevant.

I'm certain you'll agree. The peasants are revolting.