The Vía 40 Express concession warned those interested in traveling to Girardot that they should bear in mind that works are currently being carried out on the road in different sectors of the road, due to the construction of its third lane, so some mobility restrictions may occur.
Foreseeing that there will be an impact on the mobility of passengers, the director of operations of Vía 40 Express, Hernán Alarcón, said that “contingency plans have been drawn up to guarantee users the best conditions on the road, a safe corridor, as little damage as possible and services in the shortest possible time ”.
The concession also announced that during this week the execution of works will be suspended at sites where work permits, so that there will be the greatest number of lanes available.
The company assured that the construction of the third lane continues to progress according to the planned schedule, but to improve mobility during Easter, only some works will be suspended, as there are works that cannot be stopped due to their complexity.
Fabián Lacouture, technical director of Vía 40 Express, explained that although the road has two roads, in these sections it cannot be fully enabled for vehicle flow, due to the complexity of the works and the safety of all users.
Thus, three lanes were enabled in Alto de Canecas, in the Bogotá-Girardot direction, three lanes, one towards Girardot and two towards Bogotá, while in the Melgar variant the road that leads from Bogotá to Girardot will be closed, but another two-way road will be available. The Sumapaz Tunnel will only operate with one lane, as the other will be closed this week.
In the Sumapaz tunnel, which operates in the direction of Girardot-Bogotá, one of its two lanes will remain closed at Easter. The same happens in a stretch of about 600 meters after the tunnel. The plan of the concession is to handle two-way traffic on the road that passes through the Devil's Nose. In this sector, Vía 40 Express indicates that it will guarantee two lanes, either to Girardot or to Bogotá.
“The normal scheme is that there is one lane going down and two going up, and depending on the increase in traffic flow we reverse that condition. If it is necessary for those three lanes to operate in one direction, we will do so, depending on vehicle demand,” said Lacouture.
According to the calculations of Via 40 Express, which operates this road corridor between La Despensa, in Soacha, to Girardot, it is estimated that around 400,000 vehicles can transit this week.
The largest flow of vehicles was concentrated this Saturday and Sunday, during operation Exodus, and for Easter Sunday, within the framework of the return plan. On that date alone, 55,000 cars could circulate, 25,000 more than on a normal day, warn the figures of Vía 40 Express.
In these sectors there will be changes in mobility, depending on whether it is an exodus plan or a return plan:
- On the Great Bend, in Nile: two lanes, one in counterflow.
- On the Tolemaida bridge, in Melgar: enabled direction Girardot-Melgar. In case of high flow, counterflow is activated by the Melgar variant.
- In Silvania: two lanes, one in counterflow.
- In Salero, in Melgar: two lanes, in case of high flow one is activated in counterflow.
- In Chinauta: two lanes, one in counterflow.
- Alto de Canecas: two lanes in the direction of greater flow.
- Sumapaz Tunnel: one lane enabled and one in counterflow through the Devil's Nose area.
- Girardot variant: a counterflow lane.
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