Unexpected problems delay Swiss highway project

A highway project looks set to face extended delays in its construction due to the discovery of contaminated land. A two year highway project planned in the canton Valais will now take considerably longer to complete due to the unexpected discovery of mercury contamination on the site. The contamination is historic and appears to be the result of disposal carried out by a local chemicals firm in the 1930s, when there were few controls over what could be dumped. The company had tipped its chemical waste into
November 28, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
A highway project looks set to face extended delays in its construction due to the discovery of contaminated land. A two year highway project planned in the canton Valais will now take considerably longer to complete due to the unexpected discovery of mercury contamination on the site. The contamination is historic and appears to be the result of disposal carried out by a local chemicals firm in the 1930s, when there were few controls over what could be dumped. The company had tipped its chemical waste into a canal but the scale of the contamination has yet to be fully assessed. The project requires some 240,000m3 of earthmoving work and at this early stage, it looks as if some 20,000m3 will have to be treated. The chemicals firm is still in business and will pay for the extra decontamination work necessary. However, the issue does highlight the problem of historic contamination dating from when environmental controls were less thorough than at present. With the need to re-use many former industrial sites for infrastructure work in developed nations, this type of problem is likely to resurface on a regular basis.

Related Content

  • Mega city transport in Mexico
    June 13, 2012
    Rapid urban growth is resulting in massive mega cities with major transport needs and Mexico City is one of the world’s largest – Mike Woof reports Mexico City is a vast, sprawling metropolis and one of the world’s largest cities, resulting in huge problems for its inhabitants, particularly with regard to infrastructure. Measuring population size is an inexact science for large cities as suburban areas can add to the figures considerably, especially in developing nations where unplanned expansion is as comm
    Read More
  • Alberta’s peaceful partnership
    May 4, 2020
    A bridge project in northern Canada threw up some unexpected challenges, reports David Arminas, from the banks of the Peace River in Alberta
    Read More
  • Highways England: new agency with long-term investment strategies
    August 18, 2015
    Highways England, created out of the old Highways Agency, was set up on April 1 to oversee a closer relationship between government client and private contractors. World Highways went to a recent forum in London to hear both sides declare their hopes and challenges. Government reforms are often met with a certain amount of scepticism thanks to years of disillusionment over forgotten ministerial promises. Given that, highway contractors in the UK could have been forgiven if they had raised their eyes skyward
    Read More
  • How data mining and the intelligence it creates is helping sites run more effectively and efficiently
    December 13, 2022
    In this, the third in our series of top-level roundtable discussions led by World Highways, editor Mike Woof and roundtable host Nadira Tudor talk machine control technology with three world-class experts from Leica Geosystems (part of Hexagon), Topcon, and Trimble. There’s never been a more exciting time to be in construction as innovation makes us more productive, more efficient, more sustainable, and better connected. Autonomy means opportunity.
    Read More

Highlighted Content