Miguel A. Lopes / Lusa
A1 boarding fell after dike burst in Mondego
Highway 1 may reopen, in a conditioned manner, in the coming days, between the Coimbra North and Coimbra South junction, said the executive president of Brisa, who estimates that the works will be completed by the end of the first week of March.
It was a week ago yesterday that, due to bad weather, part of the A1 (at kilometer 191) collapsed.
The rupture in the infrastructure was caused by the bursting and subsequent excavation of the embankment next to the northern abutment of Mondego viaduct C, due to an exceptional flow of more than 2,100 cubic meters of water per second, the concessionaire further explains.
The following day, the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Miguel Pinto Luzadmitted that maybe he collapsed.
“We believe that in the next few days we will be in a position to have traffic circulate on the South-North platform, in a conditioned mannerannounced this Wednesday the president of Brisa Concessões Rodoviária (BCR), Manuel Melo Ramos.
“It will be on half a highway, we will have circular traffic in two directions”he added.
The proposal for the conditioned reopening was made to the Institute of Mobility and Transport (IMT), which is being supported by the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC), authorities responsible for the analysis and inspection.
“It requires an analysis, in the first instance, by these authorities, an inspection, the carrying out of the tests they deem necessary and, then, a final decision, which together with us, we believe will be taken in the coming days”, he added.
Miguel A. Lopes / Lusa
A1 boarding fell after dike burst in Mondego
What works are being done?
Manuel Melo Ramos explained that over the weekend, “works to protect the landfill and exterior rockfill of the landfill were completed” and, on Tuesday, “the stabilization of the transition slab of the South-North platform was completed”.
The repair phase of the North-South embankment of the A1, next to the Mondego dike that burst a week ago, and subsequent paving, began today, and it was decided to award the work to the “contractor who was here, aware of the urgency”.
“Our estimate is that the work is fully completed by the end of the first week of March. It is with this work plan that we are working, obviously, and we will do everything to be as quick as possible”, he highlighted.
Asked whether the concessionaire could ask for compensation from the State for not guaranteeing the safety of the highway, Manuel Melo Ramos said that “it is not” on the agenda, highlighting that BRC invests more than R$60 million per year in maintaining its infrastructure.
“Just two years ago, we completed rehabilitation work on these viaducts over the [rio] Mondego that cost almost five million euros. The value of this work will certainly be below five million euros. It’s not something that’s on the agenda, I don’t think,” he said.
