Work to stabilise mountainside on blocked Ronda-San Pedro road progresses well with new viaduct now under construction

Storm Jana, just one of the Atlantic storms that swept through Malaga province in March, caused havoc on the local road network, but none more so than the serious landslide on the important arterial road-link between San Pedro Alcántara and Ronda. Above Benahavís, a large landslide completely cut off this regional road, the A-397. The highway engineers have been working flat out since then, trying to bring forward the agreed deadlines for all the required repairs. The first phase was to stabilise the slope that keeps slipping and that work is now coming to an end. That, in turn, now allows reconstruction work to start on the damaged viaduct buried by the landslide with all safety measures in place. The new support beams are already being manufactured in a workshop in Ronda

As reported by the Consejería de Fomento, the Junta de Andalucía's public works department last Saturday, work has already begun on the bridge deck. All this repair work to the A-397 has a budget of 4.5 million euros and teams are working on the project seven days a week.

"Efforts in recent weeks have focused on ensuring the stability of the slope. Initially, with the removal of all unstable rocks, using heavy machinery, manual means with specialists in vertical work and, finally, controlled blasting. Containment membranes have been progressively installed in the upper and middle areas of where the land slipped. The latest work, which finished this [last] week, consisted of installing a five-metre high dynamic barrier," was the summary provided in Fomento's statement, the public works department led by Rocío Díaz.

The first part of this reconstruction work focuses on demolition of the parapet and deck of the damaged bridge. Meanwhile, the support beams needed to reconstruct the deck have already been manufactured in a workshop in Ronda but, before their installation, the damaged structure must be demolished and preparation work done on-site. Following these actions, the beams and the pre-cast concrete slabs will be installed so that the whole deck slab can be reinforced in situ and then set in more concrete.

Work on the mountain slope will also continue in parallel with the bridge repairs. A high-strength membrane needs to go in, but this time in the middle and lower parts of the landslide. To do this, a specialist team will be suspended with the help of a crane with a basket at one end of the viaduct and another team will be hoisted aloft on the slope with the aid of a cargo hoist.