| Work Detail |
The works will be put out to tender by the Buenos Aires government with an investment of US$75 million. The public hearing was held on Tuesday, November 5.
While the national government has just launched the tender documents for the privatization of several toll roads that are currently operated by a state-owned company, the City of Buenos Aires is moving forward with a multi-million dollar project that will seek to expand one of the most important highways in the city.
The administration led by Jorge Macri, through the Ministry of Infrastructure of the City of Buenos Aires and the state-owned company Autopistas Urbanas SA (AUSA), developed a master plan to modify the Dellepiane, covering from its intersection on Av. Gral. Paz to the Dellepiane Toll, at the connection of the route with the 25 de Mayo and Perito Moreno Highways.
This Tuesday, November 5, the Public Hearing was held to analyze the project, taking into account that it was categorized under examination with Relevant Environmental Effect (CRE).
What the works will be like and the necessary financing
At the time, officials of the Buenos Aires government explained in the City Legislature the scope of the work that will require a disbursement of US$75 million, money that will come from a loan provided by the Andean Development Corporation (CAF), the multilateral development bank that supports the countries of Latin America, and that will be channeled through the company AUSA.
The presentation, which took place last October, was attended by the first vice president of the institution, Matías López, and a team of officials who explained the scope of the works and the details of the financing.
Among those present were the Minister of Infrastructure of Buenos Aires, Pablo Bereciartua, the Director of Infrastructure Operations of AUSA, Claudio Rimauro, and the Undersecretary of Finance, Abel Fernández.
City government officials explained to legislators that the works will be put out to tender and listed the scope of the work and details of the financing to improve the layout of this route that is concentrated in the south of the city, covering Communes 8 and 9, on the current route of the Dellepiane Highway.
Mega City Plan
The public hearing on Tuesday was convened to offer an institutional space for all those who may be affected or have a particular interest to express their opinion regarding the plan.
The official initiative aims to increase road safety, connect neighborhoods, improve environmental quality, add green and recreational spaces and reduce flooding, in addition to seeking to connect different areas of the City that are currently separated by urban barriers such as railroad tracks and Buenos Aires highways.
The City will obtain the funds to carry out this project through a loan granted by the Andean Development Corporation (CAF).
The loan is part of the law of the Executive Branch of Buenos Aires, which was approved last August by the Buenos Aires Legislature to obtain financing for the purpose of carrying out works that seek to "improve pedestrian and vehicular circulation between areas separated by urban barriers, railroad tracks and highways."
In the case of the Dellepiane highway, its route connects the AU 25 de Mayo with the Ricchieri, linking the city center with the Ezeiza airport and the highway to Cañuelas, including a large area in the southwest of Greater Buenos Aires.
Between Av. Escalada and Mozart it is the boundary between Communes 8 and 9 and continues through the Parque Avellaneda neighborhood, in Commune 9 until Lacarra, from where it becomes the boundary again with Commune 8 until Mariano Acosta.
The project will be carried out in stages.
The Ministry of Infrastructure is the official body responsible for the works, which comprehensively include improvements to the collectors and the surrounding area, with green spaces and bicycle lanes, a new bridge and the construction of an exclusive lane for public transport, for a possible metrobus or a trambus.
The first stage put out to tender only includes the expansion of both collectors, north and south, in addition to explaining that the route will have three lanes in each direction, each 3.50 metres wide, except in the section between Lacarra and Escalada where there will be a fourth lane.
Although the loan with CAF is already closed, the start of the works will be financed with the Citys own funds and will fully include the redesign of the main route of the Highway; exclusive APP lanes; new sections of the North and South collectors; refurbishment of accesses; expansion of the Belgrano Sur railway bridge and the Rio Negro Road Bridge, among other works.
The overall idea is to try to transform the Dellepiane route into a "park highway", as those highways with public areas, completed collectors, and a set of uses are called, but which also include landscaping with a significant and general urban improvement, such as the Panamericana.
This is in addition to the development of a hydraulic work that will link the pre-existing Cildáñez basin to prevent flooding in the area, trying to alleviate flooding in the area comprised by Aquino Street, Argentina Avenue, Dellepiane and Escaldada Avenue and increase the capacity of the conduction to drain flooding in the northern collector of the Dellepiane from Argentina Avenue to the southwest, as detailed in the master plan. |
