The Ministry of Development, Infrastructure, and Territory Planning has informed the Government Council about the emergency works on the iron bridge of the A-2003, in La Barca de la Florida, an Autonomous Local Entity (ELA) of Jerez de la Frontera, in the province of Cádiz. The bridge had suffered a breakage of an abutment, which, if it worsened, could compromise the safety of drivers passing through the road. The works, with a budget of 121,000 euros, are already underway and are currently 20% complete.
The road conservation team’s technicians detected the bridge’s pathologies during an inspection. The damage to the abutment posed a certain risk, as cracks and fissures had formed, which, if not urgently addressed, could lead to the collapse of the abutment and, consequently, the undermining and subsequent fall of the deck. Therefore, as a safety measure, the tonnage for vehicle passage was initially reduced from 30 to 10 tons. This structure is located at kilometer 18 of the A-2003 road, which supports more than 4,000 vehicles daily, mainly urban traffic, but is also a heavily used route for travel between Jerez and San José del Valle.
The emergency works, being carried out by the company Iter Trivium with a two-month deadline, consist of installing provisional supports and sealing and injecting the cracks and fissures that have appeared, which will receive a new injection after the execution of a lining wall. Subsequently, the installation of anchors will take place, in addition to executing the expansion joint of elastic mortar on a new beam with the demolition of the existing one. The action will be completed with the cleaning, painting, and greasing of the support elements.
This action adds to other emergency works carried out by the Ministry of Development, Infrastructure, and Territory Planning to repair damages detected in bridges on the regional road network. In addition to this bridge in La Barca de la Florida, interventions have also been made on the bridge in Órgiva (Granada), the iron bridge over the Jándula River in Andújar (Jaén), the bridge between Baza and Benamaurel on the A-4200, the bridge in Santa Cruz del Comercio, and, more recently, on the bridge over the Salado stream in the Sevillian municipality of Montellano.
In addition to these urgent actions, the Ministry of Development is about to tender a contract for the inspection of the 3,000 bridges or structures existing on the regional road network to check their status and set a schedule of actions in those where pathologies are detected.
Source: Portal de Cádiz
