the AP-46

[bunty]

Got to go down to Malaga airport from Granada on Saturday to pick someone up and was wondering about this new road..AP 46
Has anyone used this road and is it easy to find airport? Not sure if I should give it a try or not and if it will be worth my while .I know the other route like the back of my hand and as I will be driving by night I always have a fear of getting lost if it isn't well indicated...

[El Cid]

The AP-46 runs parallel to the old road and is a toll road. I doubt that you would gain much by using it.

The new ring round round the back of Malaga does not yet have a decent exit to the airport so you might as well stick to the old route.

Sid

[dawn]

We drove down the new AP-46 toll road from Granada last week...a faster drive due to lack of bends in road..and also not very much traffic on toll road at all (€3.05 each way) but wouldnt advise using it to get to airport, as El Cid states, no exit road yet to come off at airport so you would have to exit toll road at Malaga and continue to airport as normal or exit at Torremolinos/Benalmadena and do a U turn at one of roundabouts, then back to airport..Once airport exit road is completed will be much better option.

Worth a drive down in daylight to see different scenery

[peteroldracer]

Just done an "Iceland" run today from Comares: we didn't use the toll road as it would mean us heading north from Casabermeja before heading south - and paying for the privilege! Because the old ring road route is so much quieter due to many going the new way, and we were calling at Leroy Merlin for another gas heater (special offer @ 49€ + 20 for the regulator and tube!), it was the best route. I would recommend using the tried and tested way until the northern approach road is done.
Coming back though, the new Ronda is a joy, with less traffic and more lanes.
Incidentally, Iceland get deliveries Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, so the tip is to call latish on one of those days when they are more likely to have stock of what you are after.

[bunty]

Thanks for information...

[ajtg1952]

we didn't use the toll road as it would mean us heading north from Casabermeja before heading south - and paying for the privilege!

Just for information, Peter, you can't get onto the toll road from Casabermeja; you can see it but thats about all. You would need to go North to junction 107 [El Romeral] and turn around; a long way for a short cut.

Once the junction near the airport is complete on the northern ring road this will suit car park 3 and other northern long stay car parks, but the best way to the terminal will be the new elevated road coming off the original motorway at Leroy Merlin.

[peteroldracer]

Just for information, Peter, you can't get onto the toll road from Casabermeja; you can see it but thats about all. You would need to go North to junction 107 [El Romeral] and turn around; a long way for a short cut.

Errrrm - that's what I said ajtg - No?
But thanks for the suggestion re using the new flyover when complete.

[ajtg1952]

Absolutely right, Peter. My eyes and mind were out of sync !!...

[Beryl1914]

Are the Malaga Station shops open this Sunday as I have a few hours to kill?

[Miro]

We drove down the new AP-46 toll road from Granada last week...a faster drive due to lack of bends in road..

Approx. how long does it take Granada - Torremolinos exit? (and vice versa!) Assume for the sake of argument that I never break the speed limit.

[dawn]

Not sure, didnt really time it and we join at JCN 211 not from Granada, but Id say approx 45-50 mins from our jcn..
To be honest its not a lot quicker than non toll road, possibly further in kms, but because there isnt so much traffic and you miss out all bends down to Malaga it seems a faster road.

[Miro]

Excuse my ignorance, but where the heck is JCN 211? How much further is it to Granada city?

[peteroldracer]

Assuming that the AP-46 is as other Autovias, the speed limit will be 120kph all the way (except approaching toll booths of course), whereas the A-45 is a typical up-and-down 80/100/120 without much rhyme or reason, and with frequent mobile radar traps as well as the fixed ones, so progress should be quicker. If only there was an automatic device that blew up the engine of any vehicle closer to the one in front than 2 seconds, life would be good (maybe if one could also buy a microwave gun that could be pointed at any driver using a mobile, and make it scream at 120 decibels, change that to perfect!).

[Miro]

Amen!

[ajtg1952]

If only there was an automatic device that blew up the engine of any vehicle closer to the one in front than 2 seconds, life would be good (maybe if one could also buy a microwave gun that could be pointed at any driver using a mobile, and make it scream at 120 decibels, change that to perfect!).

Before retiring, my last car had active cruise control which could be set to a fixed number of seconds. I kept mine set at 2 seconds and I was amazed the distance it kept me from the vehicle in front when travelling at 70mph.

[Enrique]

Hi Miro,
Its about 30 mins from A-92 211km to Granada city


ajtg1952:....At 70mph 3 seconds is better............

[bunty]

Managed the trip to airport last night on old road.. Did have a very uncomfortable moment when the road divided when we had just started going on the Ronda of Malaga.This was all very new for me and I chose the direction Malaga oeste... thank-goodness!! If not I suppose I would have ended up on the A46..

[Miro]

I've noticed on the new stretches by Torremolinos the road divides, and more alarmingly, narrows from 3 to 2 lanes at points, with absolutely no warning, no signs and no road markings whatsoever. Where the heck the do they get their highway engineeers from ? It's no longer enough to worry about how close the car behind you is - now you've got to watch out for the car beside you as well :crazy:y

[peteroldracer]

!! If not I suppose I would have ended up on the A46..

You could not have ended up on the AP-46 (at least, not easily!) going west as it sounds like you were. You would have merely continued on the new outer ring road until the Cartama exit, taken this, and approached the airport from the west eventually, or at worst ended up on the A7 near the Torremolinos Palacio de Congresso.
If people are driving correctly, they will be in or moving into one of the two righthand lanes on joining the ring road from the A-45 or on the A7 from the east, and these both veer off to be the old road through the tunnel and past the conference centre.

[olive]

I've noticed on the new stretches by Torremolinos the road divides, and more alarmingly, narrows from 3 to 2 lanes at points, with absolutely no warning, no signs and no road markings whatsoever. Where the heck the do they get their highway engineeers from ? It's no longer enough to worry about how close the car behind you is - now you've got to watch out for the car beside you as well :crazy:y

Spot on. I love the roads in Spain from a to b BUT the intersections are often very poorly designed. I can give countless examples that as traffic levels build up will become accident blackspots. Some favourites are the uphill fork for Granada and Antequera as you leave Malaga, The a92 junction with the Granada Jaen motorway where joiners are faced with folk hammering downhill and maybe turning off on the same bit of slip road you use for heading onto the motorway. Even the Malaga, heading West ,coast motorway where it divides into old motorway and new City bypass motorway is confusing and again uphill so vast speed differentials as folk make their mind up late or deliberately cut in.

Haven't used the new toll road but might when the access to airport is opened up.