Ferrovial Agroman’s machinery team have installed the first girder beam for the Fontanal Viaduct, a structure spanning 465 metres, with 11 spans and 10 pillars, as part of the Mudéjar A23 motorway, on the Caldearenas–Lanave stretch. The project was awarded by the State Road Department in Aragon to Ferrovial Agroman and Compañía de Obras Castillejos in 2008, as a contract worth over 58 million euros.
Fontanal is the longest viaduct of the three envisaged within the project. It is a curved structure on the uphill stretch towards Huesca. It has a 270-metre radius, a longitudinal gradient of 6.16% and a cross-sectional camber of 8%.
The deck is 13.54 metres wide with 11 spans resting on pre-cast reinforced concrete girders of double T section, 2.40 metres in flange width and a maximum weight of 70 tonnes. Each span has a length of 42.60 metres to the axis of the deck and is formed by five girders connected by a 25-cm thick “in situ” concrete slab on which it rests.
In May, the specialist team launched the first girder, using a 110-tonne launching truss gantry owned by Ferrovial Agroman. To deliver the girders and load and feed the launching gantry, a pair of portico girders were used to move the girders and preslabs along the structure. The launching team is currently working on the seventh span.
Caldearenas – Lanave stretch of the A23 motorway
The Mudéjar A23 motorway, on the Caldearenas – Lanave stretch in Huesca, runs South to North along the N-330 road corridor from Alicante to France via Zaragoza, in the provinces of Zaragoza and Huesca.
The most notable structures of this stretch of motorway, which is almost 15 km long, are the 395-metre tunnel, equipped with medium and low voltage electrical installations, fire protection, lighting and safety controls; the Fontana viaduct, an isostatic viaduct made with 465-metre precast concrete curved girders with a radius of 270 metres; the Guarga viaduct, a mixed structure of 350 metres and two parallel isostatic viaducts; and the Lanave link which will join the Caldearenas – Lanave stretch through a roundabout elevated over the motorway to the N-330 which continues the route to the north. Additionally, the construction of 3 overpasses are worthy of note: 0.1, where the Caldearenas link crosses over the motorway on an isostatic deck made of double T precast concrete girders, with three spans; 1.2, which allows crossing of the main carriageways using a prestressed concrete slab with a 1 metre side; and 3.6 which provides access to the centre of Belarra from the current N-330 through a mixed, single-span bi-integrated structure.
Also worthy of note are the four animal crossings, designed to ensure permeability of the route and essentially allowing the crossing of large land mammals living in the area, such as wild boar, roe and red deer. The transversal drainage systems will be adapted to facilitate the crossing of small species, such as rabbits and European hare. Other environmental activities are envisaged, such as planting and provision of native tree species to ensure environmental integration and restoration of the area around the Guarga River. This will guarantee habitat conservation for 5 species of amphibian, 4 species of reptiles, 76 birds and 24 mammals detected in the area.
Moreover, the project includes the provision of a series of optic fibre communication networks to feed information on the state of the road and traffic incidences through weather stations, video-surveillance points and de-icing systems; and the expansion of the electrical substation of Monrepós to supply adequate electricity demand within the tunnels.
