A greenway with cars<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The 2.61-mile project begins with roughly 2,362 feet of road safety and drainage work near Yera station. It then follows the old railbed for 1.62 miles as a roughly 21-foot-wide vehicle road<\/a> beside a broad walking and cycling path, before continuing for about 2,789 feet as a pedestrian and bicycle-only section to the tunnel\u2019s north entrance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The route also includes parking, rest areas, an automated e-bike rental center, and an immersive lighting installation inside the first 328 feet of the tunnel. For a family arriving with bikes, that mix may feel convenient. For a cyclist expecting a car-free rail trail, it is a different product.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spain\u2019s national Greenways Program defines V\u00edas Verdes as disused railway lines converted into \u201cnon-motorized routes\u201d for walking and cycling, with motor traffic restricted for safety. La Enga\u00f1a includes a genuine non-motorized stretch, but the main access segment is designed for vehicles as well, so the label now carries more political weight than paint color alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using the European Central Bank\u2019s July 17 reference rate, the final cost works out to about $5.49 million, up from roughly $3.77 million. That is an increase of about $1.72 million, which regional President Mar\u00eda Jos\u00e9 S\u00e1enz de Buruaga described as \u201cresponsible planning.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government says two project modifications combined work that had originally been treated as separate road and greenway contracts, avoiding the need to tear up fresh construction later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That explanation can be reasonable in engineering terms, but it does not make the increase irrelevant. Public value depends on whether the broader scope, environmental review, and promised benefits were clearly disclosed before the money was committed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The motorized section ends near the planned lower station of the Mirador del Pas cable car, tying the new access road to a much larger tourism proposal<\/a>. The official plan expects a private concessionaire to invest more than $26.3 million and operate the system for 40 years, using 40-person cabins with capacity for 350 to 375 passengers an hour at speeds of up to about 22.4 mph.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government hopes to tender the project in late 2026 or early 2027 after completing the environmental process and economic viability review. Public consultation<\/a> ran from Jan. 20 through March 2 under an ordinary environmental impact assessment, and Buruaga said officials were responding to 60 objections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SEO\/BirdLife says the proposed upper station would sit about 98 feet from a Red Natura 2000 protected area and believes the project could affect an important bird area used by hen harriers, griffon vultures, and Egyptian vultures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The conservation group acknowledges that cable cars are less invasive than ski areas or wind farms, but it argues that the landscape and geological value of this location make the project a poor fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government\u2019s business case says the 16 municipalities of the Valles Pasiegos recorded 64,435 travelers and 188,748 overnight stays in 2024, nearly double the visitor count reported for 2015. It forecasts about 135 direct jobs during the cable car\u2019s first year and around 270 indirect jobs linked to hospitality, retail, recreation, and transportation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those numbers explain why rural leaders want the investment. Yet a cable car does not erase the footprint of the people arriving below it, and road traffic<\/a>, parking demand, waste, trail erosion, and pressure on farming land can matter as much as towers and cables. That is where the road\u2019s design becomes part of the environmental debate, not merely a separate access project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A credible sustainable tourism plan needs published traffic forecasts, shuttle or public transportation options, visitor limits if habitats show stress, and monitoring that can trigger changes. The environmental review should be judged by whether it addresses induced demand, not only the construction footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The La Enga\u00f1a tunnel never carried trains. Historical research on Franco-era penal labor records that two prison labor detachments were established at the tunnel portals in 1942, with 370 prisoners on one side and 190 at Vega de Pas in 1943.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The opening ceremony described La Enga\u00f1a as a \u201cspace loaded with memory,\u201d and 328 feet of the tunnel now includes lighting intended to honor its builders. A serious heritage presentation should also explain that Republican political prisoners worked under a sentence-reduction labor system, because tourism can restore a place without smoothing away why it matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlso Read: A 120-acre logistics park beside M\u00e1laga airport went back to square one after five years, because its environmental clearance expired first<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
The price climbed sharply<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The cable car is the bigger bet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Also Read: Seven engineers built a $2.3 million bridge with a near 90\u00b0 curve: then the suspensions came<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/okdiario.com\/techy\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/spain-la-engana-rail-tunnel-greenway-cantabria.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Tourism gains and environmental limits<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The tunnel\u2019s memory matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Also Read: Sacramento is betting its power future on sodium, not lithium, with a first-of-its-kind battery plant<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
What happens next<\/h2>\n\n\n\n