Key highway project in Colombia faces delay

Work on a key stretch of Colombia’s Ruta del Sol highway project is behind schedule, with the route now unlikely to open to traffic before 2017. The 21.6km section of the highway facing these delays will link Villeta and Guaduas in Cundinamarca. A key challenge is technical as the US engineering firm Gall Zeidler Consultants has warned Colombia’s infrastructure agency (ANI) that this section of the route is geologically unstable. The proposed route could be at risk from slippage and will need to be stabilis
December 2, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
Work on a key stretch of Colombia’s Ruta del Sol highway project is behind schedule, with the route now unlikely to open to traffic before 2017. The 21.6km section of the highway facing these delays will link Villeta and Guaduas in Cundinamarca. A key challenge is technical as the US engineering firm Gall Zeidler Consultants has warned Colombia’s infrastructure agency (ANI) that this section of the route is geologically unstable. The proposed route could be at risk from slippage and will need to be stabilised, while it will also require very short tunnel sections and viaducts as well as rerouting. The Colombian Society of Engineers (SCI) will have to prepare plans for the route while the tender process and construction work will also have to be prepared carefully to minimise problems. Around 170km of the Ruta del Sol will be accessible by the end of 2014, including the Bogota-Villeta dual carriageway and the Puerto Salgar-Guaduas road. The old road will be used until the first stretch is completed.

Meanwhile Spanish firm 980 OHL Concesiones has pre-qualified in the tender of eight contracts in Colombia. The deals will be worth $4.75 billion and OHL is interested in the construction and management of 1,146km worth of highways. These form part of a package for 10 projects known as Autopistas para la Prosperidad. OHL has expressed an interest in the Autopista al Mar 2 and Autopista al Rio Magdalena 1 highway projects, which have been valued at around $1.9 billion.
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