In a statement, Infraestruturas de Portugal revealed that these two investment contracts under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), financed by the European Union, involve a global investment amounting to 88.5 million euros.

According to the company, the construction contract for the Évora East Bypass, worth 54.9 million euros, aims to build a new alternative road connection to the current section of the IP2.

This bypass will be approximately 12.8 kilometres long, connecting the Évora Nascente junction of the A6 motorway, “immediately after the toll booth”, and the connection with the current IP2, in S. Manços, in the municipality of Évora.

The improvement work on the IP8 section, which is 22.5 kilometres long, will cost around 33.6 million euros, the company said.

The project will be built between the roundabout with the Regional Road 2 (ER2) in Ferreira do Alentejo and the roundabout with the IP2 in Beja.

The aim is “to structurally rehabilitate the road, improving mobility, circulation and safety conditions on the IP8”, stated Infraestruturas de Portugal, highlighting that the project “also includes the construction of a bypass to the town of Beringel, which will be 2.5 kilometres long”.

“The contracts will be submitted for assessment by the Court of Auditors in order to obtain the necessary prior approval,” the company said.

With regard to the Évora Nascente Bypass, in June 2021, Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) had already announced a public tender for the preparation of the execution project for the work, which included an analysis of the feasibility of using the route and structures built as part of the IP2 requalification project, included in the then Baixo Alentejo sub-concession.

During the requalification project, which was eventually suspended in 2011, earthworks were carried out and viaducts were built, which remain abandoned to this day.

The construction of the bypass has been demanded in Évora in recent years, to allow traffic to be diverted from the city, whose historic centre is classified as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).