L’Aquila, August 4, 2021 – Work on the Strada dei Parchi, between the Tornimparte and L’Aquila Ovest exits, is proceeding at a rapid pace.
This morning, at the crack of dawn, the East carriageway, in the direction of Teramo, of the Genzano Viaduct, on the outskirts of the L’Aquila metropolitan area, was blasted. A closure to traffic of only three hours was enough to allowthe controlled demolition of the East Viaduct and the reopening to traffic in both directions of the West Viaduct, which had already been open to traffic for about a month, completely rebuilt and adapted to the latest earthquake-resistant standards.
The Genzano Viaduct, in operation since 1969, is in fact made up of two independent structures. The West Viaduct had been demolished by mechanical means at the end of 2019 and now welcomes traffic, in and out of L’Aquila, in total safety, after rapid reconstruction and scrupulous testing.
The infrastructure network of the L’Aquila area now has a new Genzano Viaduct, with corten steel reinforced piers and latest-generation seismic dissipators, one of the first in Italy to be built according to the 2018 Technical Standards. Instead, to dismantle the five spans of the East Viaduct, the innovative solution of controlled blasting with explosive microcharges was chosen , which was already successfully used early last month on the same roadway of the Fornaca Viaduct. A solution that makes it possible to compress demolition time as much as possible and to begin reconstruction almost immediately. It is an ideal choice for viaducts, such as the one in Genzano, that cross stretches of countryside that are sparsely or not at all inhabited, in this case a narrow gorge preceding the entrance tunnel to the Conca de L’Aquila.
The only exceptional expedient, in this case, concerned the SS584, in the section between Lucoli and Genzano di Sassa, which runs between the pylons and on which the debris of the demolished viaduct was deposited. To safeguard the state highway, the roadway has been covered with a cushion of earth of about one meter and protected laterally by safety fringes. In just six days, the section will be dug up and, after proper inspections, immediately reopened to traffic. Again, an extremely limited disruption of the local road system, agreed upon with the relevant authorities and institutions, also to ensure the viability of an alternative road system.
A few days of closure, versus an encumbrance of months on the state highway, which would have taken mechanical equipment and workers to dismantle the old viaduct piece by piece. This morning’s demolition is part of a carefully planned sequence of “open-hearted” interventions on Abruzzo’s highways, in which time and space are cleverly fitted together like pieces of a puzzle to minimize interference with summer vacation traffic.
“Engineers, planners and workers have been working hard during the months of pandemic confinement, and this summer we are beginning to reap the benefits,” commented Riccardo Mollo, CEO of Strada dei Parchi. “There is still a lot of work to be done to make the entire section safe, but the work already done allows us to avoid integral closures and to welcome our customers on new roadways that take the route of the old structures and project them into the new millennium in terms of safety and durability. On the Genzano Viaduct as on the Sant’Onofrio Viaduct, one of the most extensive and strategic on the section, where the launching operations of the new, fully earthquake-resistant spans are nearing completion. We are resuming a pattern already tried and tested over the past summer, that of partial closures, with construction sites coexisting alongside operating roadways, but with the controlled abatements it meets a formidable push toward the goal: the delivery to our customers, and to Aquilans in particular, of state-of-the-art structures, capable of withstanding the powerful seismic stresses of the local fault for many years to come. With the goal of offering everyone a more comfortable but, above all, safer journey.”
