There will be interventions to duplicate several stretches
Augusto Diniz – Vassouras (RJ)
In 2008, the division of concessions of Spanish Acciona took over, for 25 years, the administration, recovery, maintenance and operation of a stretch of the BR-393 highway, on the border of the states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, in Além Paraíba, as far as the “City of Steel”, as Volta Redonda is known, the municipality where Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional (CSN) is based.
According to Acciona, until August R$370 million had been already invested in jobsites in Rodovia do Aço. About more R$300 million will still be invested in construction work until 2018.
That road serves the most developed region in the State of Rio de Janeiro, the southern region, headquarters of several industries – in the road one can also see the construction of other undertakings. The road is 200.4 km long, out of which 14 km, in Volta Redonda, in a marginal road to connect BR-393 to Dutra Highway, which has not been passed to the operator’s management yet because the Dnit is in charge of completing construction works that have been dragging along for years due to embargoes – 80% is complete.
Civil engineer Moises Nonato, technical director of the road, tells that in the first years of the concession interventions were concentrated in recovering the road. “Vertical and horizontal signage was very bad and we did extensive work to recover it. We have placed 36 km of lighting in several stretches of the road. Additionally, we have recovered the paving”, says he.
Totaling 50 crossings, among bridges and viaducts are being recovered, reinforced and widened, to meet the current rules for this type of road structure. According to Moises, 38 structures have already faced intervention and five are undergoing construction work. “We are working in five bridges that cross the Paraíba do Sul River”, he comments. Improvements have also been made in 16 accesses of the road.
Environmental liability
To understand better the geography where the road passes in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Moises explains that one of its sides is an area of influence of the Paraíba do Sul River, which runs nearby, an on the other side there are the hills. Under those conditions, containing erosion and redoing sloping banks, the so-called environmental liabilities, are constant tasks. “There will be 175 spots”, counts Moises as to the number of interventions on the banks until the tenth year of the concession to avoid erosion in the lane.
He explains that jobs referring to sloping banks – which vary from 10 m to 50 m – are in much higher number than expected. “The soil in the region is hard (with soft characteristic). Near Sapucaia (a municipality cut by the road), there are rocks and sand”, he mentions. He remembers that the rains that reached the region of the hills in Rio de Janeiro in 2012 also reached the road, demanding several contention interventions there.
Work referring to environmental liabilities is located inside the legally protected area along almost the whole road. To take those actions, firstly the conditions of the existing soil’s status are studied and, the work and slope are dimensioned. Depending on the case, there is a “liability split-up” (removal of the part of the soil next to the road at risk of erosion) by using excavators. After manual finishing, the crest of the sloping bank is drained (from the highest part downwards, both sides) in a hydraulic ladder to dissipate the water’s energy. Draining ditches complement the service.
After that, hydro-sewing grass in the sliding banks is done. Finally, a coconut-fiber cover is placed on the sliding banks – the cover, as time goes by, breaks up as the grass grows.
Some sliding banks on rocks – which are not split up – receive beams in addition to a special steel screen to stabilize the soil. In some cases mortar is also launched over the screen.
The operator is still working to recover the road’s legally protected area, which varies from 35m to 10m stretches, with several illegal occupations. “Unfortunately we have found the road under these conditions and we are trying to remediate the situation”, he reports. The company is also focused on duplicating 27 km of the road near the municipality of Barra do Piraí, in addition to several other stretches. The project has already been approved by the National Agency of Land Transportation (ANTT) and is waiting for a license.
Moises Nonato explains that in 2015 three additional lanes will be built in the stretch of the BR-393 which crosses the city of Sapucaia – one, 5 km long, other 5 km long and the last one 3 km long. “At that site the road is still paved with parallelepiped-shaped blocks” he mentions. That engineer remembers a 5.5 km long lane that in the past was made in the municipality of Paraíba do Sul. It was a critical spot. "Today, there is zero accident at that site”, he states.
He, however, tells that other stretches will be duplicated to receive additional lanes that have not been included in the concession contract, but which are being studies jointly with ANTT. The operator assessed that between Volta Redonda and Três Rios, when the road meets the BR-040 (Rio-Brasilia), the road should be fully duplicated and, as from there, it should receive new additional lanes”. The road is a shortcut to Rio de Janeiro. Previously it used to go as far as Rio de Janeiro for drivers to reach then the BR-116 or BR-040. Today, Rodovia do Aço is used”, he completes.
Fonte: Revista O Empreiteiro
