ALMONTE VIADUCT
CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
David Arribas, Pedro Cavero, David Carnero
FCC Construcción
1.
1.1.
INTRODUCTION
LOCATION
Development Ministry of Spain government, is
the owner of the line and consequently the
property developer.
Within the High Speed corridor that it is being
constructed between Madrid and Extremadura, and
will eventually connect the European capitals of
Madrid and Lisbon, a most outstanding viaduct is
being constructed crossing the Almonte river mouth
into the Alcántara reservoir. It is located in the
southwestern part of Spain, in an area where the river
bed is almost 400 m wide.
The Almonte viaduct, whose length is almost 1 km, is
within a 6.1 km section of the high speed line Madrid
– Extremadura, being all the centre-piece of this
unique contract. The whole contract comprises 3
more viaducts (of lengths between 250 and 450 m
with spans of 45 m), 2 overbridges and one
underpass, besides all the earthworks and drainage
works necessary to create the rail platform.
It has to be stated that the Almonte viaduct is nestled
in an area of a high environmental value, being
qualified as ZEPA (Area of special protection for birds).
Consequently, the environmental impact of the
viaduct in the landscape should be classed as
‘marginal’, and the river bed cannot be affected by
the viaduct.
1.2.
PARTICIPANTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION PROJECT
The main participants in the construction project of
the Almonte viaduct have been the following:
-
ADIF AV (Administrador de Instalaciones
Ferroviarias. Alta Velocidad): Belonging to the
-
Designer: The designer of the whole project is a
joint venture between IDOM and Arenas &
Asociados, the latter company is responsible for
the design of the Almonte viaduct itself. It is
notable that this joint venture has been also
responsible for the supervision of the
construction of the viaduct.
-
Main Contractor: It is also a joint venture,
between FCC Construcción and Conduril, with
FCC holding an 85% share. Furthermore FCC
Bridges Department have been liable of
developing the final design of the viaduct, which
comprises certain adjustments to the detailed
design to adapt the project to the resources that
were to be used with full involvement with the
designer.
1.3.
BUDGET AND SCHEDULE TIME
The design of Almonte viaduct concluded in
December 2009, and ADIF awarded the construction
works to the joint venture FCC-Conduril in April 2010.
Construction on the viaduct began in August 2011,
and the arch commenced in April 2012. The arch was
completed in August 2015 and completion of the
bridge as a whole is scheduled for October 2016.
The overall budget of the whole contract section is
81.8 M€, while the budget related to Almonte viaduct
is 46 M€.
4/2016