Repair work on the section of Highway 1 (A1), which collapsed on Wednesday after a dike burst on the Mondego River, in Coimbra, is underway, but is not yet expected to be completed, Brisa reported this afternoon.
“It is not possible, for now, to estimate the deadline for completing the repair works”, indicated BCR – Brisa Concessão Rodoviária, in a statement.
At issue is the interruption of a section of the A1 (motorway that connects Lisbon and Porto) near the Coimbra Sul junction, between kilometers 198 and 189, where road traffic has been closed in both directions since shortly after 6pm on Wednesday, following the rupture of a dike on the right bank of the Mondego River.
“The alternative routes for A1 users remain the A8/A17/A25 corridor or the IC2”, he highlighted.
According to the concessionaire Brisa, the work to stabilize the embankment near the northern junction of the Mondego viaduct C, on the A1, is already underway and is taking place in two phases, the first focused in the North-South direction and the second focused in the South-North direction.
“The priority is currently the implementation of measures that prevent the damage from worsening on both lanes”, said the company.
The ongoing project, according to Brisa, consists of using rock material to “suppress the erosion of the infrastructure (rockfill) in the North-South direction”, with more than three dozen trucks, a crane truck, a machine carrier truck, a bulldozer and two excavators having been mobilized to the site so far.
Furthermore, more than 70 professionals are on the ground, the concessionaire said, adding that all Brisa teams specializing in the areas of infrastructure management and operation are mobilized nationwide.
The company also said that the work is being monitored by technical teams from the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC) and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing.
Brisa reinforced that it is working closely with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing, the Institute of Mobility and Transport, the Republican National Guard, the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority, the Portuguese Environment Agency and LNEC.
The rupture of the section of the A1 near the Coimbra Sul junction was caused by the rupture of the dike and “subsequent excavation of the landfill soil, due to the exceptional water flow in the Mondego river, in the Coimbra region”, according to Brisa.
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