Demolition work continues on Strada dei Parchi between the Tornimparte and L’Aquila Ovest exits. On the morning of Sept. 26, micro-explosive charges blasted the eastbound carriageway, in the direction of Teramo, of the Cerqueta Viaduct, lying on a steep rocky slope in the municipality of Tornimparte, near Villagrande. Demolition that involved, as in other cases, a traffic disruption on the section of only three hours, with traffic reopened as early as 9 a.m. in both directions on the opposite carriageway.
The Cerqueta Viaduct, among the first built on the A24, will be replaced by a new, continuous span, corten steel, self-passivating structure, like the new pylon that will replace the existing one. Major reinforcement work will be done on the abutments with steel tie rods anchored in the rock . The bridge deck will be made earthquake-proof by rubber insulators. It is one of thirteen viaducts that will make up the first earthquake-resistant section adapted to the 2018 regulations in Italy.
An achievement that is due to the efforts of the concessionary company, which has started Urgent Safety Messa in Sicurezza works in one of the areas hardest hit by recent earthquakes in Italy, and which needs a total of 6 billion in investments to complete the upgrading of the entire network to national and European standards for highway infrastructure. “This infrastructure has reached the end of its life and needs to be modernized,” denounces Riccardo Mollo, CEO of SdP. “But the situation is not unblocked. We advanced the 90 million for maintenance this year “.
