Autopista al Mar 1 Highway and Western Tunnel

Being part of the project Autopista al Mar 1 means being part of the development of the region of Antioquia. The work consists on building a 33 km dual carriageway between Medellin and Santa Fe de Antioquia, the construction of the 4.6 km of the second Western Tunnel, the 55 km rehabilitation of the current road and the operation and maintenance of the 181 km corridor.

In the field of sustainability, the road fosters various initiatives. Among these actions, we built wildlife crossings and developed a project for the care of water resources in the village of San Sebastián de Palmitas and in the municipality of Ebéjico, in which three water sources were protected, 1,780 native tree species were planted, and awareness-raising workshops were held among the inhabitants.

Moreover, investigations to protect the archaeological heritage have been carried out, in line with the Preventive Archaeology Programme. Archaeological remains found include more than 12,900 ceramic fragments. 

The Autopista al Mar 1 project received five awards for its financing, granted by specialized publications:

• Infrastructure Financing of the Year and Road Financing of the Year: Andes category, by the internacional publication LatinFinance. It recognized the ‘exemplary management’ developed by the concessionaire, which closed the financing at 2.2 billion Colombian pesos (630 million euros). 
• Best Road of the Year, granted by IJ Global Project Finance & Infrastructure Journal.
• Americas Transport Deal of the Year, from Project Finance International.
• Americas Deals of the Year, in the category Latin American Roads.

The works carried out in the Western Tunnel have implied the use of state-of-the-art technical solutions that have resulted in the creation of one of the longest tunnels in America. In this context, both tubes of the Fernando Gómez Martínez’s tunnel also use last generation illumination thanks to IOHNIC, our innovative and sustainable illumination system, which is based on a continuous disposition of the luminaries and a better energy efficiency.