In full execution, which already reaches 60% progress, are the works to expand Carretera El Cobre in the commune of Rancagua. This was indicated by the regional director of O’Higgins Roads, Maurice Dintrans, in an interview with El Rancagüino, highlighting that the executing company IMACO is advancing in the installation of concrete at points of expansion and increase of runways.
The concern of the users of this road increases when “Super Monday” is around the corner, which marks the return to school. According to the representative of this department of the Ministry of Public Works, this week there has been special progress in access and pedestrian situation to improve and ensure the movement of people to the clinics located in the area in addition to the improvement of signage.
“About two weeks ago we had to change the programming to focus on the movement of pedestrians to these places. Today (Thursday) part of this work is completed,” added the director of this technical and specialized unit of the MOP, specifying that general cleaning of the environment has been carried out, installation of asphalt platforms for the circulation of pedestrians on gravel, lowering of sills, moving fences, installing railings, enabling zebra crossings, painting, signage, among other advances. And he recalled that “what is currently enabled is a little better than what it was in November and December of last year, when the schools left classes.”
The deadlines of the executing company according to the contract expire in the middle of the first half of this year. Despite this, Dintrans explains that it is necessary to understand the different complexities that arise in the development of this milestone, from the beginning to today. Added to this are the various public and private portfolios involved in one way or another in the project, such as the Ministry of Public Works, the Regional Government, the municipalities of Rancagua and Machalí, schools in the area, the existing clinics there, the community and neighbors, unions and transport authorities, the Traffic Control Operational Unit (UOCT), companies such as CGE or Telcom, among others. “In urban areas, complexities increase as there are many actors involved. Here are the clinics, the schools, the neighbors, the power lines, the canalists, etc. We cannot arrive and cut off traffic and access, we have to move forward almost by square meter so as not to generate complications that would be greater if we did it this way,” he indicated.
SUPER MONDAY AND WHAT’S COMING
It is hoped that this progress in the works will not have a serious impact on the road chaos that we hope will return with the return to classes starting this coming week. Despite this, the regional director of the entity believes that they are in the worst moment of the work, “it is like a bottleneck, at the inflection point. We know that this Monday will be complex, but we hope that people will settle in in the first weeks,” he said.
As an immediate measure, Roads asked the company to have paleteros and support people by this Monday to face the contingency of returning to school in this entire expansion area due to the high road congestion that this would bring.
But the news in the future would improve since during the month of March a gradual enabling of the new tracks would be completed that will allow for improved circulation and turning of vehicles. “This has been done for a long time but you can’t see it, the concrete in several sections is already ready. That is why we hope that these first days with the last of March will be totally different and people will see the change. By mid-March a difference will be noticeable,” Maurice Dintrans insisted.
Another aspect that the local Highway Director recognized is that planning and work must also be done to mobilize the service, lighting and telecommunications networks – including the optical fiber that Codelco uses for its telecommanded tasks – and that pass through the sector where the operations are carried out. plays. This has required various meetings between those involved to coordinate it and finalize it in at least a couple more months. “These days, CGE’s work in the transfer of poles and generation of networks and their electrification is soon to be finished,” said the Highway representative. “We have to wait for them to vacate the posts to attack these tracks. And at the same time, the company in charge is working in the electrical area, which cannot be seen because they are on the sides, and it is seen that the lamps and road lighting are already enabled, which gives us important road safety,” he concluded. director.
Concern of neighbors who ask for better access to clinics in the sector
The intersection of Villalobos Fire Department and Carretera El Cobre has been one of the most complex and complicated because at least three clinics and hospital centers in the commune are located there. This implies the mobilization of vehicles and pedestrians to these places, to which the passage cannot be closed, much less to an emergency vehicle.
Miguel Silva, a resident of Villa Los Cantaros on the side of the El Cobre Highway, referred to the meetings held between them and the authorities addressing the work in the area. “The position and authority is excellent in going down to the territorial levels and to the communities that are the ones who have the real problems. They are clear about listening to us and taking action on our concerns.” And he added that this is one of the oldest towns in Rancagua and they are worried, especially about the usual movement of older adults to the clinics, so they are waiting for the installation of a walkway or something else that will improve the movement of people while they carry out these works.
