Just two weeks after the rockfall on the A24 highway near Roviano, the section affected by the landslide has been reopened to dual lanes in both directions. A result achieved, working day and night, by Toto Group technicians, in coordination with SdP staff, who installed a special rockfall barrier in time for the long Easter weekend. Once again, group synergies made it possible to remedy a dangerous situation on a section of the highway, the one between the Carsoli/Oricola and Vicovaro/Mandela exits, which was designed and built in a landslide area more than half a century ago and should be rebuilt as a variant, as endlessly represented to the granting Ministry.
To reopen the highway, SdP took immediate action with a temporary solution, a concrete wall installed in just 30 hours, which made it possible to buffer the emergency and reopen to traffic in both directions, albeit on only one lane. Now a special rockfall net has made it possible to restore full traffic flow on both carriageways. The net, with an extension of 60 meters and a height of 6 meters, has been tested to absorb up to 5,000 kJ thanks to a device to dissipate the energy produced by landslides. It was safely installed by experienced rock climbers in constant coordination with operators who monitored signs of further detachments upstream in real time.
Uprights will be installed to extend the rockfall barrier for another 100 meters upstream and downstream of the landslide area, where the danger is not immediate but must be prevented. Work will be suspended to allow full safe use of the highway over the Easter period. They will resume from Tuesday, April 19, with possible roadway reductions and full reopenings on weekends.
SdP once again moved first and alone, in a climate of constant emergency, because the economic planning tool that regulates the relationship between Concessionaire and Grantor and indicates priority interventions, the PEF, has been missing for almost 10 years. Waiting for approval, after 18 projects and simulations sent by SdP to the relevant ministries, the section between Carsoli and Vicovaro, which has reached the end of its life, had recently been included by the Extraordinary Commissioner in the list of the most urgent projects, for which the first 800 million euros are already available. But bureaucracy delays the opening of the construction site for the variant section, deaf and impassive in the face of all the signs reminding us that time has already run out.
