New tunnel link proposed for Colombia

Even as work continues on La Linea tunnel in Colombia, the country’s government has received a proposal for an additional tunnel link. A consortium made up of Colombian companies and Italian firms has suggested building a new tunnel to link Quindio and Tolima. Odinsa, Mincivil, Impregilo and Salini are involved in the consortium and have suggested a PPP as being a possible model under which to construct the link, which could cost in the order of US$531 million and would be 8.5km long. The economic case for
July 23, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Even as work continues on La Linea tunnel in Colombia, the country’s government has received a proposal for an additional tunnel link. A consortium made up of Colombian companies and Italian firms has suggested building a new tunnel to link Quindio and Tolima. 3214 Odinsa, Mincivil, 3149 Impregilo and Salini are involved in the consortium and have suggested a PPP as being a possible model under which to construct the link, which could cost in the order of US$531 million and would be 8.5km long. The economic case for this new route has yet to be made clear as the tunnel would lie comparatively close to the La Linea tunnel.

Progress with the current La Linea tunnel project in Colombia has been slow due to a series of delays. This link will connect Calarca and Cajamarca in the central Corderilla of the Colombian Andes and at around 8.6km, will be the longest road tunnel in Latin America when complete. When open to traffic La Linea tunnel will reduce travel times along Route 40 between Bogota and Cali and also the port of Buenaventura. This difficult project has met with numerous challenges, from technical, financial and legal standpoints. Altitude has not made the project any easier either and one tunnel portal is at 2,400m above sea level while the other is at 2,500m. However when it is complete the benefit to the Colombian economy will be significant as it will improve transport and cut accidents by replacing a treacherous existing route. From an engineering standpoint, the opening of La Linea tunnel will be a significant achievement for Colombia’s construction industry.
Road Structures

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Mombasa to Lagos highway proposed by African Union special envoy
    November 2, 2018
    A new highway connecting Kenya’s port of Mombasa with Nigeria’s commercial centre and main port of Lagos has been put forward by a special envoy to the African Union. The Kenyan opposition leader, Raila Odinga, was recently appointed to the post of special envoy to the African Union and announced the plan for a new transport connection between Mombasa and Lagos. This 6,000km route would provide an important economic link between two of Africa’s main ports. Although most of the route between Mombasa and
    Read More
  • Indonesia’s road revamp is seeing new road transport connections
    July 16, 2018
    Indonesia’s road development programme is continuing, with a series of major projects being carried out across the country that will boost transport connections. State funding will help progress on the Trans-Sumatra toll road, paying for six sections of the road link. In all the 1,480km toll road project is expected to cost nearly US$11.85 billion, with state funding paying for a significant portion of the work So far the state-owned construction firm, Hutama Karya, which is building much of the route has
    Read More
  • Crane assembly for Tibet excavator
    February 9, 2017
    A tough machine assembly operation at extreme altitude has been carried out by two cranes from XCMG The cranes were used to assist in the assembly of a large excavator needed to assist in production at an extraction operation in Tibet. Located at an altitude of no less than 5,400m on the very remote Mila Mountain, the extraction sites was aiming at upgrading its operations and boosting productivity with the addition of a new 100tonne class excavator. The two cranes, an XCT100 model and a QAY300A machi
    Read More
  • Costs revised for Denmark’s proposed Kattegat Bridge
    May 9, 2016
    A proposed bridge across the Kattegat Sea in northern Europe would be cheaper for the Danish government than previously expected, according to an engineering report. The bridge between Denmark’s Jutland and Zealand islands would need around €2.02 billion in government subsidies, noted the report from Danish engineering consultancy Rambøll. A previous report from the Ministry of Transport concluded that subsidies would have to be around €6.85 billion and need to be financed by loans. This caused the mi
    Read More

Highlighted Content