Project Cartagena: Tunneling the bay

Project Cartagena: Tunneling the bay

Heemskerk, P.W.M.
Horsten, B.P.M.
Kramer, R.
Korevaar, T.J.A.
Van der Valk, R.E.A.

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Hydraulic Engineering

2014-11-05

Cartagena is one of the main touristic attractions of Colombia with its good conserved colonial city centre. The city also has an important contribution to the economic growth of Colombia, because of its big port and its beneficial location towards the Panama Channel. However, Cartagena is suffering from problems with the accessibility of different parts of the city, due to factors as flooding and overtopping waves. A previous group of students from the university in Delft, The Netherlands, did a study on those problems in Cartagena in 2013 and came up with a solution, a tunnel to diminish the traffic congestion problems. This result is the start of this project. The main traffic problems are around the old city centre. Between the airport and the old city a new cut and cover tunnel is being constructed at this moment, but the traffic problems between the centre, Bocagrande and Manga will not benefit from this solution. To improve the traffic between those parts, a track has been designed from the city centre to Bocagrande and further on towards the island of Manga. In the design the new road will be constructed on a land elevation in the Caribbean Sea in front of the city. The internal bay of Cartagena will be crossed by an immersed tunnel. The connections between the new road and the existing traffic system are all designed with roundabouts. The dyke section of the new connection could have a great addition to the project, as it would be the main generator of money. The option to create new land behind the levee could attract a lot of investors who are willing to pay for the valuable surface near to the city centre and Bocagrande. With this dyke the coastal face will change a lot, including the changes of the Colombian coast in general. Those effects are left out of consideration, because of the scope and the focus of the project on the part of the tunnel. The design of the tunnel is built of three main parts, the abutment, the tunnel elements and the groundwork. The abutments on both sides of the tunnel are the transition between the current road system and the immersed tunnel. The abutment roughly contains three parts, at first an open part, which will be a tunnel without roof which is guiding the traffic into the ground. The second is a service building, which connects the open and closed tunnel. In the service building the main control room is situated, just as the flooding prevention. The joint with the immersed tunnel is made by a closed tunnel. The abutment will be built in the dry, the construction site is provided by a building pit made of sheet piles.

cartagena
tunnel
traffic congestion

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