Why are they building a tunnel on Boyacá Avenue, in the north of Bogotá

Currently, without much publicity, construction is being carried out on Boyacá Avenue with 70th Street, in the northwest of Bogotá. In this area, according to the El Tiempo portal, wells and tunnels are being built that aim to guarantee that three million people who live there have access to drinking water services, 24 hours a day. The newspaper stressed that there is already a similar construction, however, it is more than 50 years old.

Cristina Arango, manager of the Aqueduct Company reported that “the Tibitoc-Casablanca line is one of the most important for the city's aqueduct system. We are rehabilitating and improving the vulnerability of the entire system with the work that is starting its execution.” Likewise, engineer Gino González, head of the entity's parent network division, stressed that, in effect, the project will have an extension of 12.5 kilometers consisting of 60-inch pipes. These will be part of aqueduct networks. “The water service will be guaranteed to citizens of the towns of Engativá, Fontibon, Kennedy, the lower area of Bosa and Ciudad Bolivar,” explained the engineer.

According to the professional, the project will be done with a technology known as microtunneling, which will mitigate the impact that may have on the mobility of the site. Everything will be done with state-of-the-art tools. This construction, details El Tiempo, is about 15 meters deep. On Boyacá Avenue, Bogotá crosses from south to north and, therefore, during peak hours, more than 11,000 vehicles can be mobilized.

The Bogotá Aqueduct and Sewerage Company (EAAB), taking this context into account, decided not to break the road to carry out the work. If it had done so, says El Tiempo, it would have taken several years and it would have affected, in addition to the infrastructure, the context of the residents.

The project envisages, says the media outlet, to have 11 shunts, which will allow the transit of water throughout the west and southwest of the capital. This would also benefit neighbouring municipalities. There will be at least 50 valves for bypasses and interconnections and a telemetry system to monitor pressures and flow.

This Aqueduct project is named after Manija of the Tibitoc-Casablanca parent network and was started through a Colombian-Mexican firm at the end of 2021. The tunnel will run 12.5 kilometers from Boyacá Avenue, that is, it goes from 80th Street to 39th Street South. 8.7 km of those will be built between 12 and 15 meters deep. The rest will be done thanks to the open ditch system.

” The work on Boyacá Avenue is part of our infrastructure modernization projects to ensure the reliability of the water supply. Likewise, we incorporate cutting-edge technology to reduce impacts on the mobility of the city,” said Arango. The third phase of construction received an investment of 262 billion pesos.

It will have, in addition, the ability to withstand the circulation of water under high pressure, that is, 110 meters of water column, and has the form of withstanding the thrust force during installation,.

” This work is a pioneer in the world. In Germany, Hungary and Italy, stretches of up to one kilometre have been made, but not the length or diameter of the pipeline as is done in Bogotá,” González said.

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