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In addition to the works that were already scheduled, the heavy rains in recent weeks explain the more than 30 restricted crossings on national highways.
The end of the year festivities are approaching, the season of greatest movement in the country. The National Tourism Fund (Fontur) recently highlighted that tourism in Colombia has recovered by 20% after the restrictions to which the sector was subjected due to the pandemic and the measures implemented to contain it. The dynamics of the coming weeks could take this figure to 50%.
Also read: Invías authorizes the partial reopening of the Medellín – Bogotá highway
But not only Colombians book to travel in December, because according to data from Procolombia, the number of foreign visitors would grow more than 30% in the last month of the year. The transport sector is working quickly these weeks to put into service the largest number of kilometers of roads; On the one hand, they have a work schedule in progress, on the other, the last rainy season caused several damages that need to be repaired.
For this reason, we consolidate a report on the level of operation of the national roads so that those who make trips by land can plan their trip and avoid surprises that delay their itineraries, because despite the controls, effects on the mobility of all roads are expected. regions.
The concessioned roads, in charge of the National Infrastructure Agency (ANI), have active work fronts for projects under construction in almost the entire country. Most of the total and partial closures for the next few days were scheduled in advance and are mainly due to works that were already underway, although in some cases they contemplate attention to critical points with some degree of affectation by recent weather conditions.
The National Highways Institute (Invías), for its part, will be focused mainly on attending to emergencies, since between November and December there have been 320 contingencies due to the last winter wave, which have left 67 roads affected in 21 departments . As of December 15, 71 total closures had been announced, of which only four remain, in addition to 14 partial closures in seven departments.
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The Caribbean Region
One of the roads in the most serious situation is the Circunvalar de San Andrés, which was destroyed after the passage of Hurricane Iota. Currently it works with restricted passage at various points due to the Invías works. This entity also recently completed work on the Santana-La Gloria road, in Magdalena, and in the same department is serving a scouring at kilometer 100 of the Salamina-El Piñón road, where there is a total closure.
Regarding the concessioned roads, activities are planned until December 24 in the Cartagena-Barranquilla stretch of the Circunvalar de la Prosperidad. Specifically, there will be rehabilitation works on the existing road at nine points and the construction of a double road in the Eduardo Santos La Playa district and the Villa Campestre sector. The works will resume on December 26 and until the end of the year. Likewise, there are works in the Puerta de Hierro-Palmar de Varela and Carreto-Cruz del Viso project, at the height of El Carmen de Bolívar, where there is a path to a lane.
peaceful
Until now, Invías has had to make partial closures on the Quibdó-Medellín roads, in Chocó; Buenaventura-Buga, in Valle del Cauca, and Section 2602-San Andrés de Pisimbalá-Calderas, in Cauca. There are currently partial closures, in addition, in La Lupa-Santiago, in Cauca.
Center of the country
Among the more than 70 closures of Invías due to emergencies, three were in Boyacá (Route 45-Otanche, Otanche-Chiquinquirá and Belén-Sácama) and two in Cundinamarca (Honda-Villeta-Tobia Grande-Bogotá and Caparrapí-La Aguada), only the latter is fully maintained.
Likewise, there will be works accompanied by scheduled night closings in the municipality of Santa María (Boyacá), due to lighting works in the tunnels of the Transversal del Sisga. There are also alternate steps at kilometer 37 of the Perimetral de Oriente de Cundinamarca, for replacement of the mantle; in the Neiva-Espinal-Girardot private initiative project, for the execution of works between Saldaña and Espinal; in the Nariz del Diablo sector of the Bogotá-Girardot road, for the stabilization of the bank, and in at least five points (Hatogrande, Centro Chía, Price Smart and Puente Ladrillera), on the road from Bogotá to Chía , where the North Access concession works.
Eastern plains
Invías has carried out interventions on at least two roads in Casanare (Sogamoso-Aguazul and La Cabuya-Saravena) and another two in Meta (Pipiral-Villavicencio and Uribe-Ye de Granada), where there were damages due to heavy rains. At this moment there is a partial closure in Uribe-Ye de Granada, due to the sudden collapse of a small bridge near the San Juan de Arama crossing, at kilometer 77, on December 12; Although the Institute demolished the structure and filled in half the road to take the provisional step, it is recommended to take alternate routes starting at kilometer 76.
The Chirajara-Fundadores and Villavicencio-Yopal concessions will carry out work throughout December and January along the corridor at various points. For the first case, the most widespread closures will be at kilometers 71, 73 and from 66 to 69; for the second there will be temporary closures of up to 30 minutes at kilometers 37, 39, 49, 57 and 74. Work will also be carried out in several critical points, whose situation was aggravated by the rains.
Coffee Axis, Medellín and Santanderes
These regions concentrate the largest number of road interventions and it is also where some of the most critical situations occur. In recent weeks there have been total closures due to emergencies in Antioquia (2), Risaralda (3), Norte de Santander (5) and Santander (5), according to Invías. Currently, the restricted passage is maintained on the Santa Cecilia-Asia and Las Ánimas-Santa Cecilia roads, in Risaralda, and Bucaramanga-San Alberto, La Palmera-Presidente and Puerto Araújo-Landázuri, in Santander.
However, the roads with the most critical situation are Los Curos-Málaga, in Santander, and Medellín-Bogotá. In the first, the partial closure is maintained in a series of critical points that were complicated at the beginning of the year with the rainy season. In the second there is a provisional closure between 7:00 in the morning and 5:00 in the afternoon from kilometer 30 to 63 due to sloping movements and rockfall. It should be remembered that at kilometer 46 of this corridor, on December 11, a landslide occurred that claimed the lives of two people and left three more injured. Currently, 24 workers and 11 machines are working on removing the material and 40,000 cubic meters of loose material left on the slope are permanently monitored for controlled cleaning. The alternate road is Medellín-Cisneros-Puerto Berrío-Caño Alegre.
In addition, on the road that leads to Cajamarca through Alto de La Línea, a preventive closure has been maintained between 2:00 in the afternoon and 6:00 in the morning, from December 9, due to the emergencies that occurred in the first days of month: two landslides in the Bellavista sector, kilometer 38, and the porting of tunnel 16. The restriction will be maintained for two months due to the risk of the area and exclusively includes cargo and public service vehicles, because private vehicles must take the alternate route. At the same time, slope removal and stabilization activities are carried out on three work fronts.
But not all interventions correspond to emergencies. According to ANI, at least nine concessions carry out activities in these departments. In the Autopista al Mar 1 and Autopista al Mar 2 corridors, which reduce travel times between Medellín and Necoclí, there will be 14 points with traffic control (stop and go) between Medellín and Santa Fe de Antioquia until January, change to one lane between Cañasgordas and Uramita, and total closure in the La Llorona tunnel. In the same way, in the Pacífico 1, 2 and 3 projects, which extend from Medellín to Pereira, works will be executed in the Cuatro Palos sector, on the Amagá-Bolombolo road, until December 23, and between La Pintada and La Felisa, where there is total closure between 8:00 in the morning and 5:00 in the afternoon from Monday to Friday, and alternate closings at night, until March 2021. On Saturdays there is no closure, but the passage It’s controlled.
Similarly, in the Cambao-Manizales private initiative project, maintenance and rehabilitation work will be carried out on the road between kilometers 15 and 35, and from 56 to 78, between the Alvarado-Venadillo-Lerida sector, and between kilometer 6 and 0 (Cambao-Armero) and from 46 to 40 (Honda-Mariquita), which implies lane closures with traffic control.
In Santander, for its part, work is planned on 12 points of the Bucaramanga-Pamplona concession between kilometers 80 and 121, some of them sporadically, as well as closures of up to 40 minutes at kilometers 40 and 44 (sidewalk Santa Rita-Piedecuesta) and kilometer 33 (Guarumales-Tona path). At this last point, but at kilometer 30, there will be a total closure of 24 hours in one of the lanes.
And in the Bucaramanga-Barrancabermeja-Yondó concession there will be interventions on the La Putana bridge (km 3), in the Caño Seco sector (km 27-31), at the entrance to Buenos Aires (km 47), in Paradores Paraguay (km 50) and La Dianita (km 52), and near the Brisas de México restaurant (km 51) for the implementation of the dual carriageway. The construction firm clarified that December 24, 25, 26, 27 and 31 and January 1, 2 and 3 will be the exception.
South of the country
The Invías report reveals partial closures in Balsillas-Mina Blanca and Altamira-Gabinete, in Huila, and in Pasto-Buesaco-Mojarras, Pasto-La Piscicultura and Junín-Pedregal, in Nariño.
