Access to the Havana Bay tunnel reopened
HAVANA, Apr. 15th. Access to the Havana Bay Tunnel, in the Havana-Cabañas direction, reopened at 7:05 p.m. this Sunday, 48 hours earlier than planned.The first grid in the Havana-Cabaña direction arrived on the seventh day of the concrete setting, which allowed it to achieve optimal resistance for the circulation of vehicles, based on a rigorous certification from the National Company for Applied Research (ENIA-INVESCOM). of the Minister of Construction, as revealed by Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, Minister of Transportation of Cuba, in a video published on his Facebook profile.
The senior Cuban official stated that all the potholes inside the road plus those at both exits of the tunnel were fixed; The five batteries of gratings were cleaned and the sewers were fixed with cement.
He also added that the broken tiles were replaced, the walls of the tunnel were cleaned and the smaller gaps in the ceiling were filled while the larger ones “were applied a chemical product capable of stopping the deterioration of the steel,” and then “they were painted black to obtain homogeneity throughout the entire tunnel ceiling.”
In the case of the fins, the one on the Havana-Cabaña side was fixed and painted blue and it is expected that the left fin will be done at the beginning of May, but without stopping the circulation of vehicles.
The last tasks were the cleaning and organization of the tunnel, as well as the application of paint by Traffic Engineering for the horizontal signage.
It was at dawn on April 6 that the La Bahía Tunnel on the Havana-Cabañas path closed to carry out various repairs and maintenance works, especially the replacement of the first grille, considered of special importance for the water evacuation.
However, beyond the fact that replacing the grate for the evacuation of water was the main purpose of closing one path of the tunnel, other construction and maintenance tasks were announced to be completed on April 17.
Regarding complaints about dripping inside the capital’s important underground road, a few days ago Rodríguez Dávila explained that studies were carried out by the National Applied Research Company (ENIA) of MICONS, which concluded that the cycle of appreciated drip is similar to that presented at other times in previous years.
Rodríguez Dávila added that, however, it would be intervened for waterproofing in the future, although he clarified that it was not included in the maintenance announced now because it is a job that requires conditions, materials and specialized advice. He also stressed that the observed dripping “does not represent a danger to the current structure and circulation of the tunnel at the moment.”
The Havana Bay Tunnel was built between 1957 and 1958 by the French company Societé de Grand Travaux d Marseille and was inaugurated on May 31, 1958. It connects Old Havana with the city’s east and allows About 32 thousand vehicles to pass through daily.
It has two reinforced concrete tubes, capable of supporting tons of water, its length reaches 733 meters and is made up of seven concrete sections coupled by steel joints. It was covered with stone and concrete to restore the original surface of the seabed and is located at a depth of between 12 and 14 meters.
In its more than 65 years of life, it has undergone maintenance at various times, including a capital repair in 2001, carried out by the same French company that built it.
