‘Vias del Nus’ Highways, Crucial Tunnel Passages Win Enviro Permits

The Medellin-based “Vias del Nus” (“Vinus”) highway construction concessionaire announced January 22 that it won crucial permits from Agencia Nacional de Licencias Ambientales (ANLA) to build twin tunnels through “La Quiebra,” the principal obstacle blocking cost- and time-efficient freight traffic between Medellin and the Rio Magdalena.

The “Quiebra” pass currently only has an obsolete, narrow-gauge railway tunnel as well as a steep, winding highway nearby that snarls freight traffic.

According to the Vinus partners, the environmental permits from ANLA enable start-up of construction of the Quiebra highway tunnels (each 4.1-kilometers in length) as well as 5.1 kilometers of four-lane divided highway between Porcesito and the “Portal del Tunel” in Santiago, all in northern Antioquia.

“The objective of the Vias del Nus concession, which is part of the ‘Autopistas para la Prosperidad,’ is to generate a road interconnection between the city of Medellin and the main [fourth-generation] highway concessions in the country, as well as linking commercial exchange centers such as the Caribbean Coast, Pacific Coast as well as the Rio Magadalena,” according to the Vinus partners.

“This concession will allow easier and cheaper transport of products destined for export, in addition to favoring the entry of products from other regions to the department of Antioquia.

“Additionally, significant time savings will be achieved by having a design speed of 80 kilometers per hour for the new divided-highway roads and for the specific section of Cisneros-Alto de Dolores to the existing Magdalena-2 highway junction.

“Part of the work to be done consists of rehabilitating existing road and building a third lane on the uphill side of highway between San Jose del Nus and Alto de Dolores in order to improve the characteristics of the road and allow a better speed of operation than today,” according to the partners.

In total, the “Vias del Nus” project includes 154.7 kilometers of new and rehabilitated highway that begins in the northern Medellin suburb of Pradera, joining the existing Hatovial highway concession.

“Within this concession is the functional unit between Bello and Pradera that is currently concessioned to Hatovial and that will become part of the project from May 2, 2021,” according to the partners.

“This concession provides for the operation of five toll stations; four already existing in the corridor — Niquía, Trapiche, Cabildo (Trapiche control toll station), Pandequeso — and Cisneros, which will be moved because of the new geometry of the highway when the Quiebra tunnels enter into operation.

“To avoid the [potential] diversion of cargo traffic through the northeast route, it is expected that the Agencia Nacional de Infraestructura (ANI) and the Minstry of Transport or the government of Antioquia will issue a restriction upon cargo carriers for categories V, VI and VII on the Porcesito-La Cortada-Yolombó-Yalí-Vegachí-El Tigre-Remedios route (Northeast Trunk),” the Vinus partners added.

The Vinus concession partnership includes Mincivil S.A. (51.8%); SP Ingenieros (22.2%), Construcciones El Cóndor (21.1%); EDL (3.7%) and Latinco (1.1%).