The Glòries tunnels they still have some pending issues to be resolved. Like all great works, the implementation tests every technical detail and emerges touch-ups and unforeseen needs. For this reason, Barcelona City Council has put out to tender this summer a executive project of “complementary actions” in the large underground roads of Gran Via “to achieve optimal operation.” The assignment includes everything from replacing barriers and signaling emergency exits to conditioning rooms as warehouses.
The fine print can be consulted on the Public Procurement portal of the Generalitat of Catalonia, where the municipal macro-enterprise BIMSA hangs its offers and awards. With a base budget of 138,000 euros and a deadline open until September 28, the tender Look for companies that can figure out how to solve small malfunctions or improve infrastructure security. When the project is ready, the works can be put out to tender, the cost of which has not yet been specified.
The Glòries tunnels are made up of two tubes about 960 meters long, built in two phases (from Badajoz street to Castillejos and to Rambla del Poblenou respectively). In November 2021, soon two years ago, it opened for circulation with only one direction (Besòs) and the following April he premiered the other (Llobregat).
Barriers that fail to comply with regulations
Among the flaws that Bimsa points out are improvements in several tunnel barriers. On the one hand, it stands out that today three of the four bars fail to comply with the regulations that prevent passage on entrance ramps when it is necessary close traffic. It is a foldable access control, which means that if a car hits the barrier it would rotate 90º in the direction of travel to cushion the blow.
“To protect the base of the barriers, these They were embedded in a concrete wall and in three of the four barriers this wall prevents the arm from rotating 90º necessary. “We must study alternatives so that it can operate and comply with the regulations,” the bidding documents explain. Municipal sources confirm that “it must be corrected” this element.
On the other hand, it suggests installing a mobile barrier in a median crossing at the beginning of the Besòs mouth and which allows technicians to move from one tube to the other. Currently this step is separated by cylindrical beacons. “We must analyze together with the Urban Guard and the Civil Protection, Fire Prevention and Extinction and Rescue Service the convenience of installing a manually operated metal mobile median crossing, which provides continuity to the median formed by New Jersey when it is closed.” ;, details Bimsa.
Storage and control rooms
The other large group of actions are technical works in a dozen rooms inside the tunnel, not observable to the public. Five of them will be new warehouses: “The construction process [de los túneles] “has allowed the creation of spaces that we want to enable as storage areas,” says Bimsa. Two are located in the sea tube, another two in the mountain tube and the last one, next to a technical room. To use them, they must be equipped with standard and emergency lights, as well as a fire suppression system.
Three more rooms, for which no new function is detailed, will be equipped in the same way. And finally, in the stamper area – which is a shoring system – four spaces have been created to inspect and maintain the false ceilings. So that the staff can work on them, lights and security will also be installed.
Floors, radio, ventilation…
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The executive project includes more patches in the tunnels. For example, there is still missing make the eight emergency exits visible of the tunnels with posters and signs, to be agreed upon with the security forces. Bimsa also proposes replacing the pieces that support several floating floors and integrating radio messages and the status of pumps and ventilation switches into the remote management software.
Other jobs listed are installing a firebreak in a well pumping, number fans, improve public address and the management platform in real time and air conditioning control rooms to solve the humidity and condensation problems they have now. Users will be able to see the last two performances: cabinets in both mouths so that the local police can keep signs there and paving of the Besòs mouth so that the provisional marks of the works can no longer be seen on the asphalt.