Page 65 - FCC-N9-eng

Place
The
In the opinion of FCC’s chairman and CEO Baldomero Falcones, “the Despeñape-
rros project once again demonstrates that Spain must remain committed to deve-
loping infrastructures that are critical for the country’s development and that boost
economic growth”. He added that “Infrastructures, such as the recently inaugura-
ted road sections, have enormous economic value for the central part of Spain and
for Andalusia, as well as for the rest of the country”.
Enormous economic value
hed and this will make it possible to fnish
building the new El Corzo viaduct.
The 9.4 kilometre long, three-lane road
going north will reduce driving time and will
imply a signifcant improvement in terms
of safety and driving convenience. The in-
frastructure which currently supports traffc
of approximate 24,000 vehicles, 30% of
which are trucks and heavy vehicles, will be
increasing to 50,000 vehicles by the year
2025.
The new route replaces the previous road
full of curves into a modern road without
disregarding environmental aspects along
its length.
The preservation of the environment and
safety were the key objectives of the Minis-
try of Public Works, FCC and other entities
involved since part of the new road section
runs through the Natural Despeñaperros
Park – as mentioned by Pedro Vega, head
of this major project. He told us “The pro-
ject was approved by the Despeñaperros
Natural Park and we have to execute a
third phase of the project which contem-
plates several extraordinary environmental
measures, including bringing back rabbits
to beneft the natural habitat of the lynx po-
pulation. One of the current roads will be
demolished so that we can have a green
corridor. This implies the movement of
more than a million cubic metres of earth
and reforestation, planting about two hun-
dred thousand plants. This will be done
by planting the seeds of protected species
from the park that we collected”.
There are several anecdotes about their
experience during the project. Ignacio Fe-
rraro, the head of the Technical offce, told
us about the eagle which made its net the