Grupo Puentes has won a major contract worth almost $250 million to design, build and finance the Corredor de las Playas highway in Panama, which is being promoted by the Ministry of Public Works. The award culminates a successful career in the execution of public infrastructures in this Central American country, which began just five years ago. The project consists of widening the La Chorrera-Santa Cruz section of the Playas Corridor, which is part of the Pan-American Highway, to six lanes. Located in the province of West Panama, the current road is the only one that connects the nation’s capital with the inland provinces, with a high intensity of vehicle traffic, which is why it has been decided that the improved road should be elevated, in order to separate local traffic from long-distance traffic.
The section to be built by Grupo Puentes is 7.5 kilometres long. In addition to increasing the number of lanes from four to six, the most important action will be to raise the La Chorrera viaduct, 1,756 metres long and 26.50 metres wide, with 43-metre spans and cemented at depth with 1.5-metre-diameter piles. The Spanish company will also build the La Chorrera interchange, consisting of a large roundabout over the dual carriageway, rehabilitate two pedestrian walkways and install a new one, in addition to other improvements.
The start of the works, for which Grupo Puentes has a completion period of 850 days. The Panamanian Ministry of Public Works has particularly valued the guarantees provided by the Spanish company to speed up construction. The quality and compliance demonstrated by Grupo Puentes in the execution of the Atalaya-Mariato road, Cabuya interchange and Caminos de Santiago and de Mesa projects, with a total value of more than 190 million dollars, also played an important role in the awarding of the contract.