‘Pacifico 1’ Highway Between Medellin’s Southern Suburbs and Cauca River/Bolombolo Now 50% Complete
The Medellin-based Covipacifico construction consortium announced September 18 that the “Pacifico 1” highway between Medellin’s southern suburbs and the Cauca River town of Bolombolo is now 50% complete.
The COP$2.78 trillion (US$725 million) project, once completed in 2023, would dramatically reduce transit times between Medellin and southwestern Antioquia, connecting to “Pacifico 2” and “Pacifico 3” super-highways all the way to the Pacific port of Buenaventura.
According to Covipacifico, 65 bridges partially or totally built along the route so far account for 62% of total Pacifico 1 progress, while road completions account for more than 42%, with the result that the whole project is now at 50% completion.
“We are very satisfied with the rhythm of execution achieved in the works,” having largely overcome challenges including strict protocols for Covid-19 prevention as well as two significant landslides in two separate areas, project manager Mauricio Millán Drews noted.
According to Covipacifico, “in the four functional units that make up the project, there is permanent and parallel progress between the municipalities of Amagá and Venecia, where the first 5.4 kilometers of that section are near completion,” including “definitive lining of the La Sinifaná tunnel (on both sides) and more progress in road paving. Work also continues on electrical lighting installations, as well as fire prevention and drainage networks.”
Progress also includes “completion of eight of 10 bridges between the town of Bolombolo and La Sinifaná “ while in total, “Pacífico 1 records a notable advance in the construction of 65 bridges, 18 of which are already completed.”
As for construction of 23 kilometers of new highway being built on steep mountainside slopes, Covipacifico explained that it is carrying-out stabilization works on slopes and embankments, as well as building new road interchanges at Sinifaná, Titiribí and Camilo C.
“Among the distinctive works is the Amagá tunnel – actually two tubes — each tube with a distance of 3.6 kilometers, for a total length of 7.2 kilometers, of which 4.3 kilometers are already excavated,” according to Covipacifico.
