Variante di valico - A1 Motorway
LAGARO (BO)
ITALY
CMB removed millions of cubic metres of earth to make way for tunnels and complex structures
The Variante di Valico between Bologna and Florence winds its way through one of the most complex parts of Europe from a morphological and geological viewpoint.
This made highly complex technological interventions necessary.
The excavation work is almost monumental, never before seen on such problematic areas of land. The same volume of earth in cubic metres (around 8 million m3) dug out from the English Channel or the Gotthard tunnel was removed to achieve this. The length of the tunnels is distinctly shorter, however, and this required greater attention to avoid the risk of landslides.
In particular, on the side of the Apennines near to Bologna, the boring machines had to deal with complex geological formations, including the presence of gas, thus requiring a huge amount of planning and construction expertise, using special technological solutions and excavation methods to avoid the risk of explosion, as well as a capillary surveillance of the topographical and geotechnical aspects, both underground and on the hillside above.
These activities were conducted by the planners and technicians of CMB, by the site managers of SPEA and the Client, Autostrade per l’Italia (the Italian motorway company – ed.), with the involvement of various authorities and the scientific community CNR-IRPI-ISPRA, as well as the University of Bologna and Padua.
