Invías engineer says that the problem of the cracks was due to a mishap, that the faulty folder was removed and the road was left operating without problem.
On March 19, the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation began a preliminary investigation against officials to be determined, in order to establish alleged disciplinary incidents of the servers that would have participated in the planning and execution of the contract for the works carried out on the alternate route. to Rosas, in Cauca, a work that, despite having been delivered on March 13, 2023, by President Gustavo Petro himself, began to present cracks and fractures, putting transporters and the civilian population at risk.
On March 13, the National Institute of Roads (Invías) reported that the alternate, provisional road in the Pan-American connection, 2.2 kilometers long, built in the vicinity of the emergency site, where the national road was lost, which includes a 30 meter bridge had been built in 45 days.
For its part, the Public Ministry seeks to establish whether irregularities or omissions occurred in the projection of needs around the contracting of these works, as well as the determination of possible non-compliance that would have generated the deterioration of the road in such a short time. since its delivery, putting the circulating population at risk and thus affecting the principles of public procurement.
The Attorney General’s Office, through the National Directorate of Special Investigations (DNIE), carried out a disciplinary inspection at the National Institute of Roads (Invías) in order to collect all the documentation referring to the contracting of the works of the Las Rosas- Cauca, in each of its phases (pre-contractual, contractual and post-contractual), including the administrative acts that regulate the maintenance of the road and the criteria set for the transit of motor vehicles on it.
Then he will visit the area to carry out an expert opinion and thus determine the contracted technical conditions; if the cracks and fractures presented on the track correspond to regular and foreseen damage at the time of contracting or if, on the contrary, they could have been foreseen before the execution of the contract.
“The cold mixture was placed”
According to engineer Jorge Medina, from the Cauca del Invias Territorial, this provisional road is indeed a 2.2-kilometer variant, built in the vicinity of the emergency site where the national road was lost, and corresponds to an industrial road of the final variant; industrial road that was decided to adapt to somewhat mitigate the high impact generated in transportation to and from the south of the country.
Said provisional road is for a single direction of circulation and has slopes of up to 15.5% in some sections, which is why, to facilitate the passage of the tractor-trailers, it was decided to pave, with a design approved by the inspectorate, which, since it is for a Provisional road, it was checked with traffic after one year, and consists of an improved subgrade, on which a 40 cm subbase and a 17 cm MDC were placed, but it must be taken into account that a design is based on assumed characteristics that Finally, they are approximations, and in that order of ideas there will be oversized sectors and other structurally deficient sectors (a more pronounced situation in recently opened roads), and at the time of the operation this comes to light.
What was intended was to reinforce a 90-meter sector that showed certain structural flaws, applying an overlay, which was the one that moved and wrinkled, this because the cold mix was placed, rather, there was a bad construction process associated to the weather, to the pressure and mobility restrictions imposed by the high vehicular traffic, a situation that can be classified as a mishap or unforeseen (they usually occur in our road activity), the important thing is that they be accepted and corrected.
The slipping and cracking of the overlay, added the engineer Medina, which is somewhat superficial, is what is seen in these scandalous images, which distort the reality of the road. That failed folder was withdrawn and the route was left operating without any problem.
The maintenance periods are required to make the patching in the specific places where it is required, to remove some landslides that continually occur on the slopes, as a result of the continuous rains, and given their recent cutting and, mainly, “to be able to move in the construction operations of the final road, because as I informed you, it corresponds to an industrial road, open for the construction of the bypass”.
