OHLA, was recognized at the Juan León y Castillo Engineer Awards for its participation in a transformational project in the Canary Islands
April 26, 2024
OHLA has been awarded at the second edition of the Engineer Juan Leon y Castillo Awards held today at the Elder Museum of Science and Technology in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain). The event, organized by the Department of Public Works, Housing and Mobility of the Government of the Canary Islands in collaboration with the Las Palmas Association of Civil Engineers, recognizes the execution of major infrastructure projects that contribute to transforming the region.
Specifically, the contract, recognized in the category of best work, was the execution of the Agaete-La Aldea road, section: La Aldea-El Risco on the island of Gran Canaria, carried out by a joint venture led by OHLA.
The project, awarded for more than 110 million euros, consisted of the construction of a new road between La Aldea de San Nicolás and El Risco to replace the GC-200 and improve road safety. The new route, 10.36 km long, is 35% shorter than the original section, improves all design parameters and increases the project speed to 80 km/h. The new road is a three-lane single carriageway for 6.4 km, with two uphill lanes and one downhill lane, and a two-lane dual carriageway for 3.9 km.
Among the most important milestones of the project is the construction of the La Aldea Tunnel, the longest tunnel in operation in the Canary Islands and the 10th in Spain, consisting of two parallel and independent tubes with a total length of 6,338 meters, with separate lanes and two 3.50 meter lanes in each direction, an inner shoulder of 1.50 meters and an outer shoulder of 1.00 meters. It has a cross section of 76 m2 and a circle with a radius of 6.12 meters. It has 7 galleries every 400 meters for maintenance and emergencies.
The tunnel was excavated using the drill and blast method, and the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) was used to stabilize the ground and form the tunnel. In addition, the latest advances in the safety regulations of the European Tunnel Directive were applied.
It is also worth mentioning that 1,599,994 m3 of cuttings and 2,111,467 m3 of embankments were excavated during this project. In particular, the R37 embankment is the largest to date in the Canary Islands, with 678,708 m3, and the highest, at 53 meters.
