Río Magdalena Toll Road, progress made in the first nine months

Nine months after a certificate was signed in March 2015, commencing the concession contract, the Río Magdalena Toll Road is operating a 62-km road and is providing related services for road inspection, ambulance and tow truck assistance, and a mobile workshop, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The concessionaire company has invested more than one million euros to improve the conditions of the road under concession, through steps which, as a whole, improve road safety and mobility for users.

Thus, in addition to adjustments of specific losses in existing embankments and works to maintain various unstable slopes, road users now have a totally smooth road with new horizontal and vertical signs, as well as 22,000 reflectors, which did not exist until the concessionaire arrived.

Alongside road operation, the fifteen professionals included in the concessionaire’s social team are permanently in touch with the local community; they are informing various municipalities and towns of the project, to increase awareness and encourage their participation through various social programs. Nearly four hundred persons attended the “First Social Display” event arranged between 25-27 November in Puerto Berrío, Puerto Olaya and Maceo, to provide information on the project, its characteristics and benefits.

The project is facing engineering challenges, such as the construction of more than 40 viaducts, most of them in Puerto Berrío, over the Magdalena River; the bridge, 1,400 m long, will be one of the country’s largest.

The new infrastructure will provide an essential connection between the road system covered by Autopistas para la Prosperidad and Ruta del Sol. Furthermore, it will allow better access to Antioquia, the country’s second largest production center, to the national main road artery.

Construction works on the toll road are expected to begin during the first half of 2016, upon completion of design activities, the procurement of environmental permits and licenses, the release of tenements and other complementary activities that are necessary to ensure adequate execution.

Río Magdalena Toll Road.