Saceem

The President of the Republic, Luis Lacalle Pou; the Minister of Transportation and Public Works, José Luis Falero; the president of the National Ports Administration (ANP), Juan Curbelo, the interim president of Fonplata, Development Bank, Luciana Botafogo, and authorities of the SACEEM Group, headed by its executive director Alejandro Ruibal, inaugurated this Monday the new Viaduct over the Montevideo port promenade.

The ceremony took place in the late afternoon, when the aforementioned authorities arrived at the so-called Arch Bridge, where after the oratory part, President Lacalle Pou was in charge of the traditional ribbon cutting, officially inaugurating this part of the work.

Next, all those present proceeded to travel the entire Viaduct, almost 2 kilometers long, in their respective vehicles. They got off at Rambla and San Fructuoso, turned right and after walking a few blocks along Paraguay Street, they re-entered the Saceem workshop, where in a specially equipped tent, the opening ceremony continued.

There the company presented awards to the invited authorities, and the lighting of the Arch Bridge and a video that narrates the entire construction process of the work was exhibited.

The project, called “Redefinition of circulation on the port promenade” began its work in December 2019, and required three years of work and an investment of 135 million dollars. It was financed by the ANP's own resources and with a loan from the Financial Fund for the development of the La Plata Basin (FONPLATA) of 50 million dollars.

Project Functionality

The objective of the project was to generate an improvement in the circulation of the area, increase the capacity of the promenade, eliminate interference with the circulation of port trucks and with railway crossings and generate a single access to the port area with new internal circulation routes. to the port.

The construction of the 1,800-meter Viaduct, eight meters high, increases traffic capacity by 50%, going from two to three lanes in each direction. It allows the port to gain an area immediately below 16,000 m2 for a new two-lane circulation road, two in each direction, which enables the circulation of trucks from the internal side to the port area to be reorganized.

Give way, at the height of Cnel Street. Francisco Tajes, at the entrance of the new road that goes to the UPM terminal. For this, an Arch Bridge was included that has 90 meters of free span and 160 meters long, with an arch 50 meters high, which also allows the lower passage of the old railway track that enters the port area and goes to the container terminal area. Furthermore, due to its aesthetic characteristics, the arch bridge will enhance the appearance of the area and will undoubtedly become an icon of the city.

The Viaduct connects through its two main ramps of almost 200 meters long the area of ​​the Rambla and La Paz Street with the Rambla and San Fructuoso Street, areas in which 32,000 m2 of concrete pavements were executed.

At the same time, it includes two secondary ramps that will be enabled at a later time, which allow access to the Viaduct from Colombia Street to go west and descend from the Viaduct to enter the city on Cnel Street. Francisco Tajes.

The work included and extension of the high-flow storm drains that flow into the bay in this area; the Nueva Yok collector and the Gral. Luna, Santa Fé and Entre Ríos collectors. Likewise, new high-voltage and medium-voltage lines were laid to divert electrical interference that were in the area of ​​the old promenade and within the port area.

At the same time, a new esplanade of four and a half hectares of cobblestone pavements was built, generating a single access to the port, where it is planned that a new access and control system can be implemented.

For this it was necessary to gain ground from the sea by filling the bay with 200,000 cubic meters of soil and 2.5 hectares of area.

Added to the original work was the construction of a 150-meter-long internal viaduct within the port area, which will allow the internal circulation of trucks to pass unevenly, avoiding interference with the train that will enter the UPM terminal.

Operational areas within the port were also improved, with the construction of 88,000 square meters of roller-compacted concrete, with new infrastructure for lighting, drinking water, fire, sanitation and storm drain services.

The construction of a new port wall was included that defines a new boundary, increasing a total area of ​​nine hectares.

Engineering Work:

The Arch Bridge of 1,200 tons of total steel is formed by a 1,000-ton metal box and a 200-ton arch, it is a structural solution that transmits all the loads to the ends, compressing the arch that supports the deck through the hangers; In this case nine hangers that support the metal box of the arch on which a reinforced concrete board of an average thickness of 35 centimeters rests.

The loads descend through the V-shaped piles of reinforced concrete to a large header of 850 cubic meters of concrete that discharges onto 16 piles of 1.50 meters in diameter, at each end. This solution, in addition to being very attractive, allows for greater spans than with other types of solutions. This objective was sought due to the trajectory with which the two train tracks that will coexist in that area cross.

The metal part of the Arch Bridge was manufactured in Vigo, Spain, and transported by sea; The board is in five parts and the arch in four parts. It was assembled after the V-shaped concrete piles were partially completed, using auxiliary supports; The deck was assembled in five sections, and the arch was assembled in three parts with the use of a 650-ton crane.

In total, 415 21-meter prestressed beams, 56 40-meter post-tensioned beams and 22 lintels were prefabricated on site. 4,500 units of concrete pre-slabs were also executed.

310 piles approximately 30 meters deep were made, 52 frames formed by a head, pier and lintel with a total of 250m3 of concrete each. Ramps filled with soil made up of reinforced concrete retaining walls, and finished with concrete pavement.

In total, more than 60,000 cubic meters of concrete, 6,000 tons of steel, 100,000 cubic meters of soil fill, 90,000 cubic meters of filler for pavement bases, and 4,000 tons of asphalt mixture were used.

In terms of human resources, 1,600,000 man hours were used with a peak of 500 people working on the site.