Work begins on test digs for the future Parque de la Muralla car park

The first work on the future underground car park in the Parque de la Muralla is already under way. This is the archaeological intervention prior to the construction work, which will make it possible to know what lies beneath the ground before building. The company Almena Arqueología is carrying out this work, with a budget of 24,200 euros, according to the Ayuntamiento de Cádiz. The action is divided into two fronts. In the sector of the future car park, nine test pits of 2 x 2 metres will be dug, reaching up to eight metres deep at the lowest points. The aim is to study what the subsoil is like and to reach the levels of the ancient beach that once existed in this space. In the sector of the Baluarte de Santiago, four trenches of 10 x 1 metres will be opened to locate and study the oyster-stone wall of the historic moat of the bastion. The work combines mechanised surface cleaning with controlled manual excavation. The project also includes protocols to preserve possible remains of naval architecture or other heritage elements that may appear, given the history of the area. The entire surface is within the Conjunto Histórico de Cádiz, declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (BIC), and affects the Baluarte de Santiago, listed within the Muralla Moderna, and its protection area.

The municipal plan is to build beneath that space a two-storey car park with around a thousand spaces, with preference for residents. The work will have an estimated cost of about 23 million euros and will be carried out at the proposal of private initiative through a surface right. A company is already interested in the project. The Ayuntamiento would take on the urbanisation and the project for the large green area that would go on the surface. The deputy mayor delegated for Urbanismo, José Manuel Cossi, has stated that this study is necessary to decide what protection measures must be taken for the heritage that may appear beneath the ground.