Update: Medellin-Bogota Highway Partially Reopened at Kilometer 73
Colombia’s national highway institute Invias announced November 25 the partial reopening of the Medellin-Bogota highway at kilometer 73 (San Luis, Antioquia) following a November 13 landslide that blocked all traffic.
According to Invias, more than 84,000 cubic meters of rocks and dirt have been removed so far, but the job isn’t quite finished.
As a result, only one lane of the two-lane highway is now open for alternating traffic between 7 a.m and 7 p.m. daily — “as long as weather conditions allow and the condition of the hillside [where the landslide began] does not affect the safety for users,” according to Invias.
In total, 70 pieces of heavy equipment including backhoes, dump trucks and bulldozers are working to clear the site and unblock the adjacent “La Leticia” stream crushed by the landslide. One motorist was killed in the landslide incident, but no other fatalities or injuries have since been reported.
The removed dirt and rocks have been transported to the municipality of San Luis for reuse on tertiary rural roads, according to Invias.
