Américo Vespucio Oriente I, one of the largest road infrastructure projects in Chile, is an example of sustainability and innovation. The scope of the project includes the construction of this 9.1 km urban highway that runs through five districts (La Reina, Las Condes, Vitacura, Recoleta and Huechuraba) of Santiago de Chile and has three lanes in each direction for most of its length. The infrastructure saves more than 40 minutes of travel time from one point to another in eastern Santiago.
The main technical actions carried out include a 1.4 km viaduct (El Salto) built over two highways in operation, 2.1 km of tunnel under the Mapocho River and Cerro San Cristóbal, and 5.5 km of double tunnel, one superimposed on top of the other.
The initiative has also included 164,000 m2 of landscaping and compensatory environmental works, such as the construction of 7 km of bicycle lanes and walkways that guarantee accessibility for people with reduced mobility, a skatepark and two recycling clean points. Other noteworthy environmental actions have been the recycling of more than 2.3 million kg of steel and the reuse of 1,800,000 mt of material from excavation.
In the field of innovation, for the first time a hybrid tunnel solution has been developed (execution of a first level in a conventional tunnel and a second lower level from the first one) and the BIM system has been used in the engineering and construction phase.