Bogotá-Girardot Expressway

The project consists of the construction of a 65 km long third lane on the existing motorway, and the construction of three bi-directional tunnels with a total length of 2 km, in order to upgrade and widen the infrastructure on which more than 15 million vehicles travel each year. The contract also includes the operation of the 141 km of this motorway between Bogotá and Girardot, in the Cundinamarca and Tolima regions.

BACKGROUND

The expressway linking Bogotá and Girardot is one of the busiest in Colombia, with 15.3 million vehicles in 2015. Built some 50 years ago, it has been under concession since 2005. More than 37% of its revenue comes from heavy goods vehicle traffic (the motorway links Bogotá to the main route serving the Pacific ports). In its current state, the project consists of two interchanges, a 4.2 km tunnel, 17 bridges, 34 footbridges, 4 viaducts and 2 operation centres. The new project aims to improve and increase traffic on this motorway. This PPP contract is financed on the basis of toll revenues, which have been installed since 2005.

TECHNICAL OVERVIEW

In addition to the widening (64 km) and rehabilitation of all the carriageways of the expressway (118 km) and urban roads (24 km), the project requires the reworking of very high embankments, the construction of three short bi-directional tunnels (2 km in total), the rehabilitation of an existing 4 km tunnel and a false tunnel of 140 m. The project also involves the rehabilitation, construction or widening of 44 engineering structures and the construction of 32 pedestrian bridges, 28 of which will be built after the demolition of existing ones.
More than 4 million m3 of earthworks were carried out, and 55 km of roads were rehabilitated to provide better comfort for motorists.
Several technical challenges were met during the project, including the construction of the embankments, the rehabilitation of the Mariano Ospina Perez suspension bridge, the construction of the tunnels and the widening of the lanes from 2 to 4 lanes between the tunnels.

IMPACT

With this new operation, the VINCI Group intends to establish a long-term presence in Colombia, one of the most dynamic countries in South America. Indeed, for the past ten years, the country has regularly exceeded 4% annual GDP growth. The construction sector is particularly promising, with an annual growth forecast of 5% in the coming years.
VINCI Construction Grands Projets is thus continuing its development in South and Central America, following the recent completion of the Santiago airport extension in Chile and the Atlantic Bridge in Panama, the Chillán-Collipulli motorway and the El Teniente mine tunnels in Chile, as well as the Costa Azul LNG reservoirs and the Zimapán dam in Mexico.