The project, which will cost between 25 and 30 million pesos, also contemplates alternate routes.
MERIDA Yucatan (Times Media Mexico) – After analyzing several proposals to solve the problem of the overpass, the mayor of Merida, Renan Barrera Concha, announced on February 17 that it was decided to raise the level of the lower lanes by 1.50 meters and preserve the upper lanes, adapting the vehicle accesses to the traffic circle.
It also indicated that work would be carried out to define alternate routes that will allow for better mobility. The project would cost between 25 and 30 million pesos. Although it had been contemplated before, the idea of filling the infrastructure was discarded.
After the road distributor has been closed for more than 130 days to vehicular traffic, this Wednesday, the mayor instructed the Public Works Department to prepare the project to rescue the work employing the execution of the proposal mentioned above.
In a couple of days, Barrera announced he would send the Merida City Council proposal to begin the bidding process. The confidence that the aldermen can approve this initiative and we can move forward to reopen the roadway soon.
The mayor highlighted citizens’ and experts’ participation in finding a solution to this problem in the distributor road.
The College of Civil Engineers of Yucatan and specialists from the Faculty of Engineering of the Autonomous University of Yucatan (FIUADY) participated in elaborating the proposals.
The Director of Public Works, David Loría Magdub, explained that of the specialists’ three proposals, the one to raise the level is the one that would give the best results and the most viable, which would cost between 25 and 30 million pesos. “The idea is to make a work that is sustainable, that is the only expense to be made, and this leads to questions of supervision to give the guarantee that it can be done,” he commented.
The proposals
The College of Engineers, in coordination with experts from FIUADY, elaborated three proposed solutions. Jorge Arcila Arjona, a member of the Association’s Honorary Council, explained that proposal two, the one selected by the Mérida City Council, establishes raising the level of the lower lanes above the road surface and keeping the quieter lanes as they are, but adapting the vehicle accesses to the traffic circle.
He explained this recommendation, allowing creation before the new surface’s filling stage to install a watertight impermeable membrane to avoid filtrations from the subsoil.
It was emphasized that it is possible to use the space under the lower lanes to build a new sump to guarantee the necessary water tightness to integrate the new wall and slab elements with this proposal.
However, with the lanes’ elevation, he indicated that the height at which vehicles can pass is reduced by 4 percent, heavy vehicles would no longer travel on the road; also, the slope of ascent and descent is gentler, which provides better comfort.
Proposal three consists of filling in the entire pass and leaving it at the level it had before its construction. According to the studies and analysis, it is the most unfavorable of all, admitted the engineer.
The first proposal is to reduce the number of lanes in each direction below the traffic circle by one lane and increase the upper part by two lanes. This would create two 3.15-meter wide lanes and one 1.40-meter wide lane, allowing for less waiting time for those who need to turn left.
With this strategy, in the event of an automobile contingency, both uphill and downhill, a larger shoulder will be installed under the traffic circle so that traffic can move to one side and continue to flow without interrupting traffic.