‘Pacifico 1’ Highway Connecting Medellin to Southwest Restarts with Health Protocols

The Medellin-based “Covipacifico” consortium building the “Pacifico 1” highway between Medellin’s southern suburbs (Ancon Sur) and the Cauca River town of Bolombolo on April 20 unveiled details on construction relaunch — tied to strict Coronavirus-avoidance protocols.

According to the consortium, “some of the measures endorsed by the ANI [Colombia’s infrastructure agency] and the [Health Ministry Coronavirus prevention] audit are disinfection of personnel, [safe separation distances] on buses, modification of schedules for the use of common areas, cleaning of vehicles and spaces.

“Taking into account that the national government ordered the reactivation of transportation and public works (Decree 531 of April 8, 2020), the Pacific Highway Concessionaire (Covipacífico), presented to the ANI and the other authorities the biosafety protocol to protect the health of workers, road users and the community in general.

“Said plan has been socialized by the national government and the Antioquia government with the mayors of the southwest,” according to the consortium.

Among the new biosecurity measures adopted for construction restart:

1. Manual and frequent fumigation of tools and equipment used in construction, maintenance and operation activities.
2. Installation of 12 points for disinfecting personnel, four times a day.
3. Realignment of 10-hour worker shifts mainly to ensure compliance with distancing measures.
4. Checking of body temperatures and vital signs of workers before they enter vehicles.
5. Mandatory completion of a symptomatology questionnaire before boarding buses.
6. Any sign of symptoms means mandatory exclusion from transport and work sites.
6. Disinfection of buses. 
7. Mandatory minimum distance between workers at work sites.
8. Mandatory use of masks, disposable gloves and glasses.