Traffic in the Grilo tunnel in Greater Lisbon will be restricted from Monday for nine months due to restoration and modernization works, a source from Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) told Lusa.
According to Pedro Gonçalves, IP project manager, the provision of traffic conditions on this road infrastructure, located on the IC17/CRIL (Lisbon Inner Regional Ring), will begin at 10:00 pm on Monday.
At stake is work worth 14 million euros and a completion deadline of 275 days.
“In order to carry out this intervention, we will necessarily have to stipulate [o trânsito]. Currently, there are four traffic lanes on the gallery. From July 8 at 22:00, air conditioning will begin, that is, we will reduce the gallery to three accessible tracks. This duration will be throughout the entire execution stage,” he explained.
The person in charge said that, in addition, from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., “additional roads will be cut, reducing them to two, and eventually to one.”
During these hours, “occasionally, for a maximum of 15 minutes, it may be necessary to make general cuts to the gallery” in order to “carry out special work,” namely the assembly of platforms.
“It is important to note that all these changes in the appeal will be communicated in advance, with the support and proper coordination with the police,” stressed Pedro Gonçalves.
Regarding the intervention in the Grilo tunnel, the spokesman said it was infrastructure “with over 20 years of experience” and that the aim was to provide it with “the latest equipment and technology”.
The work includes improving the drainage system, installing new flooring and replacing lighting, ventilation and fire extinguishing systems.
The tunnel will also house systems for detecting hazardous materials, speed monitoring (radar), vehicle counting and classification, and video monitoring.
The Grilo Tunnel was opened in 1998 and is located on the Oliva Basto/Sakawem section of the IC17/CRIL highway, which currently has an average daily traffic of over 115,000 vehicles.