“N121A, we are facing the road with the highest mortality rate in the history of Navarra.” I have read it in a letter suyo.La mortality rate is the highest on regional roads, among other reasons because it is a very extensive network, but in Navarre the highest number of deaths occur on
the N121A. This is data from a study by the Directorate of Public Works of Navarra in 2016. In the last 26 years nearly 190 people have died. Within the same period as the A15 – Leizaran Highway – 80.

Every day, 2,740 trucks pass through here.
No, today more. In the accounts held in Olave, during this year’s week, 4,000 lorries a day have been counted.

How does this affect the people around the road?
The hardest thing is accidents, injuries and deaths. Truck accidents are more deadly. It also causes great damage to the environment, as there is a great deal of waste in truck parkings. In some villages, the acoustic impact is also important. In addition, driving the truckers is also very savage and dangerous, they are very tight over time… They would go quieter than the A15, but companies force them to leave the N121.

How do you know?
Because a lot of them have told us. Not only that, they also charge for sleeping in truck cabins. They are nothing more than mafias, both to their detriment and to our own.

N121A and A15, how are the kilometers and time between the two?They have a difference of 2O
kilometers, the N121A is shorter, but considering the speed permits, they have the same time. Even if speeds are respected, they have more time here, but they are not respected.

What about traffic flows?
In 2005, the A15 and N121A heavy truck traffic was compared. Until the Belate tunnels were opened in 1997, there were 700 trucks here every day; since then, the improvements here have attracted traffic and today they are about 1,300 and here they are already over 3,000.

What is your specific request?
Diverting heavy international cargo trucks to the A15 motorway, for this type of transport is prepared and not this one. Truckers have a similar time and many of them prefer to leave, leave quieter, but they have a reward and businesses do not want.

Is it being done in other parts of the
State? This is a section of the road from Girona to La Junquera in 2015. In the year in which 15 deaths occurred, the trucks moved to the freeway and down to four or five deaths a year. The same is true for the N240 and N340, on the roads that go to Tarragona and Valencia. Logroño has also taken its model and the N232, which goes from Tudela to Logroño, has been moved to the highway.

What is the position of the municipalities?There are 32
municipalities and now everyone is asking the Vice-President of the Government of Navarra, Manu Ayerdi, to bring the traffic to the A15. Now you will see the number of municipalities making the request. The majority are in favour.

What does the Government of Navarre argue about not doing so?
At first they had no authority to do so. Last year, however, the Spanish Government made it clear that the Government of Navarre has powers to do so and the Road Law, which was now amended a month ago, also gives powers to the administrations for the transfer of lorries in the name of safety. At the meeting we held on 23 March in Bertiz with Ayerdi, he did not explain anything clear to us. Now, on the other hand, he says that the elections are above all and that he does not have time to create a new dialogue table.

You have also been in Parliament this year.
We were in May, to say what Ayerdi doesn't say. But there, or there's a lot of pressure or there's a lot of stuff left behind and yours is left behind.

The work of the tunnels has now been completed. Are you happy?
It's been unnecessary jobs, it's been completely cosmetic. Legislation did not oblige closed tunnels and this expenditure to do so, let alone. That is where the greatest risk is that the lorries get burned, because the smoke that they usually cause on the road kills people quickly, and the problem is that these tunnels are becoming more and more dangerous because more trucks pass by. In 2011, one truck caught fire inside the tunnel and, since then, another five also caught fire at the tunnel's entrances and exits. In the most dangerous area, prevention has done nothing.

Diversion will bring some problems to the peoples of the A15, such as pollution and noise.
Yes, it's true. The problem is that freight transport must be taken off the road and done by train or by boat. The European Union’s regulations are becoming more and more pro-active. As far as roads are concerned, otherwise we cannot finish off, see Bordeaux, the motorway is constantly being opened and some 40,000 lorries from it arrive in Spain every day. This is not an efficient economy.