| Work Detail |
This is the 49.5-kilometre section that starts in Bahía Blanca and reaches the access area to Paso de las Piedras. The proposals exceeded the official budget between 65% and 71.7%.
Route 51: three offers for the widening and resurfacing work from Bahía Blanca to the dam
Route 51 is in very poor condition in the section to be intervened. It presents rutting and shoulder mismatches that are very risky for drivers. Photos: La Nueva Archive and Provincial Highway Press.
Three offers were submitted to the tender for the reconstruction work of Provincial Route 51, in the section that begins at the junction with Ex-National Route 3, in Bahía Blanca, and extends over 49.5 kilometers.
The Highway Department had stipulated a budget of just over 7,861 million pesos for the work. Bids were well above that amount.
The cheapest corresponded to the firm Vial Agro SA, and amounted to almost 12,974 million pesos (65 percent more than the official estimate).
The second lowest offer was that of Fontana Nicastro SAC, which amounted to almost 13,320 million pesos (+69.4%), while the most onerous was that of the temporary union of companies (UTE) Equimac-Tecnipisos, which was of just over 13,498 million pesos (+71.7%).
A section of the envelope opening ceremony in La Plata
The envelope opening ceremony was presided over by the general administrator of Vialidad, Hernán Y Zurieta, accompanied by the organizations technical manager, Pablo Morano, and the executive manager Omar Andrek, among others authorities.
“Route 51 is closely linked to production and has intense truck traffic. This work is going to join another section that we are already executing and this has to do with a great commitment by Governor Axel Kicillof to production," Y Zurieta said after the bidding process.
The work
The project includes the rehabilitation of the road, widening, construction of paved shoulders and third trails between kilometers 732 (the intersection with the roundabout of exruta 3, in Bahía) and 682.5 (near Cabildo), in the jurisdiction of the districts of Bahía and Coronel Pringles.
The stipulated execution period is 540 calendar days (18 months), with a subsequent conservation period of 365 days.
One of the central axes of the project is the widening and resurfacing of the existing road, in such a way that it goes from the current 6.70 meters wide to 7.30.
In addition, paved shoulders will be built with a width of 1.80 meters and third trails will be built.
The latter will consist of additional lanes for heavy vehicles, in sections with rising slopes where there are currently marked reductions in average driving speeds.
Thanks to these third trails - it was indicated - "it will be possible to add lengths of overtaking in critical sectors".
The additional trails or third trails will be executed in a width of 4 meters. The dirt shoulder will be completed with a width of 1.50 meters.
The project also contemplates that the earth shoulders and slopes of the entire section to be intervened be reformed, in order to eliminate mismatches that increase the risk of accidents.
In addition, the patching of the concrete slabs and sealing of cracks in the access roundabout to the Paso de las Piedras dam is planned, as well as the rehabilitation of the weighing station located at kilometer 694.9.
The current access intersection to the town of Cabildo will also be demolished and a new one will be built, of the canalized type, and the roundabout where route 51 intersects with national route 229 and ex-route 3, in Bahía Blanca, will be completely rebuilt. .
In the same way, vehicular docks will be built at three accesses to wind farms and the transformer station at kilometer 719.4.
The roadway of the bridge over the Sauce Grande River will be widened to 13.30 meters, with 0.9-meter-high reinforced concrete vehicle fenders. The same will be done with the 6 bridges of the so-called Bajo San José.
For the crossing over the Napostá Chico stream, near the Cabildo, the demolition of the existing structure and the construction of a new 52-meter-long prestressed beam-type bridge with a 13.30-meter-wide roadway are planned.
Where will the third trails be?
According to the technical project, there will be three sectors where third trails will be executed:
In the section that goes from kilometer 685.8 to 688.2, located to the east of the bridge over the Sauce Grande river. It will be on the left lane (if you drive in the Coronel Pringles-Bahía Blanca direction) and will be descending.
In the section from kilometer 689.1 to 690.5, located to the west of the bridge over the Sauce Grande river (on the ascending right lane).
In the section that goes from kilometers 717.5 to 719.5, in the Pringles-Bahía direction (on the ascending right lane). |
