Skip to main content

Chile's road safety drive

In Chile a serious accident has triggered a major assessment of existing safety regulations.
February 23, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
In Chile a serious accident has triggered a major assessment of existing safety regulations. The accident involved a collision between a coach and a truck. Although Chile's road network is expanding and the country's strong economy continues to fuel growth in vehicle ownership and use, the country's road safety record is not good. The accident killed 20 people on Chile's Autopista del Sol highway and has initiated a full assessment of existing road safety regulations in the country. 906 Chile's Ministry of Public Works (MOP) is also carrying out a safety assessment of the Autopista del Sol highway. To address the issue the Chilean Government is investing US$311 million in improving safety standards in routes five North and South; Autopista del Sol, route 68 and Los Libertadores road. The funds will be spent between 2010 and 2014. The Autopista del Sol highway has been allocated around $12 million of the funds. Meanwhile repair work on the Ruta 5 highway in central Chile is well on schedule. The repairs are being carried out to alleviate damage caused by the massive earthquake that struck Chile earlier this year and are presently around 58% complete. The Colombian highway operator 1311 ISA that holds the concession for this link is aiming to complete most of the repairs before the end of 2010, although one section will not be ready until January 2011.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Tunnels and bridges, improving Argentina's major road link
    April 24, 2012
    A road improvement plus tunnel and bridge building contract in an area once inhabited by dinosaurs in northern Argentina, is a small but key part of an ambitious project to complete a road that will eventually link the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Latin America - Adriana Potts reports. Remote, rough and spectacular are words that come to mind when describing the mountains of Ischigualasto in Argentina's northern province of San Juan This is the only place in the world where an undisturbed sequence of rock
  • Addressing a silent disaster
    September 24, 2012
    As India's economy registers 9% annual growth, promising material super-power status by mid-century, the nation is barely beginning to address a silent disaster, that of road casualties It was Dr. P K Sikdar [a director of International Consultants and Technocrats/ICT and a former director of the Central Road Research Institute/CRRI] who coined the phrase "silent disaster."
  • Europe’s road safety picture slanted wrong way?
    May 24, 2016
    The European Commission’s latest figures for road safety reveal some cause for concern across the EU. While the EU has the world’s safest roads overall, the road fatality rate has slipped during 2015. And this is for the second consecutive year also as EU road deaths in 2014 also showed an increase over 2013. By comparison, there were decreases in the European road death rate of 8% in 2012 and 2013.
  • Turkey’s Bosporus bridge opening
    August 25, 2016
    Turkey’s Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge over the Bosporus is having its official opening, which is being carried out by senior members of the country’s government including president Recep Erdoğan. The final sections of the deck structure were put into place in March 2016 and the project, which commenced in 2013, has been completed in record time. This is the third bridge to span the Bosporus at Turkey’s commercial centre, Istanbul and the new crossing will form part of the country’s North Marmara Highway pro