Geotunel is participating in execution of the “Construction Project for the South Metropolitan Variant Infrastructure Lot 1 – Subsection 9B-1 Bolintxu- Venta Alta Junction“, developed by Sociedad Foral Interbiak, S.A., a public corporation attached to the Provincial Council of Bizkaia. The project goal is to build a southern variant for the A-8 motorway to alleviate traffic congestion on its passage through Bilbao. Gaimaz Infraestructuras y Servicios S.A., Campezo Obras y Servicios S.A., Excavaciones Cantábricas S.A. and Geotunel S.L. are the main companies involved in the works.

The project’s main aspects include a new curved, asymmetric viaduct over the A-67 motorway and a pile transfer of the aqueduct that crosses the motorway in the vicinity of the Venta Alta reservoirs that represents a milestone at the European level and a viaduct over the Bolintxu river.

The latter structure is particularly unique, consisting as it does of a double viaduct constructed by lowering two semi-arches per lane to achieve a span in excess of 160 metres to avoid work of any kind in the valley, a protected area of great natural beauty and ecological importance.

Geotunel is participating in the expansion of the Porto metro system on the yellow line from Santo Ovidio to Vila do Conde and in construction of the new pink or circular line that connects Liberdade/Sao Bento with Casa de Música/Boavista, executed by Ferrovial S.A. and ACA Engenharia &Construção for the Metro do Porto public corporation.

Geotunel’s participation in the yellow line includes execution of the tunnel section using conventional mining methods from kp 0+765 to kp 1+605 and excavation of the shaft, with underground access and cavern widening, where the Manuel Leao station will be located.

Geotunel is performing the works for the San Antonio Hospital station on the circular (pink) line including emergency shafts and elevators, the Cais and Mezanino station caverns and the Poente and Nascente accesses. We are also working on ventilation shaft 1 and the tunnel section between San Antonio station and the future Liberdade station.

All these works represent a technical challenge due to working not only with the usual constraints of an underground project in an urban environment but also with the demands posed by the historical value of the buildings under which the route in question passes.

Geotunel took part in the construction of Line Two and the Avenida Faucett – Avenida Gambetta branch of the basic network of the Lima and Callao Metro, a project executed by the M2 Lima Consortium composed of Dragados, FCC and Salini Impregilo and Cosapi for the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Peru.

The work involved 3,281.75 metres of tunnel excavation using conventional methods with mechanical means between the Colectora Industrial and the Prolongación Javier Prado stations with provisional tunnel support based on lattice girders and application of shotcrete. A secondary cladding consisting of a 30-cm-thick sealed and reinforced concrete ring was subsequently executed using a formwork carriage.

The work began with the construction of four vertical shafts; PV22, PV23, PV24 and PV25 with an average depth of twenty metres executed by vertical excavation, reinforcement and pouring of descending two-metre-long concrete rings. Ventilation chambers were also executed in the working shafts for both excavation and tunnel support and for the civil works for subsequent installation of the industrial components to be housed in the operating phase.

Geotunel worked on Section 2 of the 4G Bucaramanga – Barrancabermeja-Yondó (BBY) highway project executed by the Ferrocol Santander Consortium within the framework of functional units UF6 and UF7 developed by the domestic Infrastructure Agency (ANI) of the Government of Colombia.

The work consisted of excavation and tunnel support of the 2,172 metre-long La Sorda tunnel and the auxiliary gallery that runs parallel to the same. We also executed 1,216 metres of the La Paz tunnel and its associated gallery from its northern mouth to the break-through point.

The project involved excavation of 367,890.80 m³ of material, 78,951 metres of rock bolts for tunnel support, 37,133.45 m³ of shotcrete and 1,997,391.82 kg of truss profiles under challenging supply and execution conditions due to the location of the project.