Three bridges on the A-44

This photo shows three bridges on the A-44 road from Granada to the coast which have been built over the years. The original bridge was a short stone bridge across the river Izbor in combination with a tunnel cut through the mountain. It was necessary to go down a winding road to get down to the stone bridge so a metal bridge was built in 1988 and it came into service in the 1990's. Eventually the decision was made to build the massive Rule dam to harness the water from the river Izbor and the Lanjarón. The protests against the Rules dam appear in one of chapters in Chris Stewart's book. "Driving over Lemons"

For a while the Rules dam was the biggest piece of concrete in Europe. In 2010 a massive concrete bridge was built across the Rules reservoir cutting down the journey time from Granada to the coast to about 50 minutes. At the time of writing this in 2019 the channels which would enable the farmers below  to use the water for irrigation have still not been completed and from time to time this story appear in the local newspapers.

If you drive around Spain you will see many examples of the development of roads. Over time the curves get straighter and the speeds get faster. If you don't like motorways and you would like to get to the coast on a scenic mountain road try the A-4050 which goes from just below Durcal to Almuñecar. It is a very winding road but the views are really amazing.