FCC Construcción completes the Nudo Norte remodeling project with the opening of the last of the three underpasses.

The Mayor of Madrid and the delegate for the Environment and Mobility of the Madrid City Council have inaugurated the underpass which will cover the A1-M11-M30 section as well as the new surface lane in the direction of Paseo de la Castellana. With the opening of this section, FCC Construcción has fulfilled the contractual execution period, reducing it to less than 24 months.

This new road, through which 27,000 vehicles will pass daily, will allow the direct connection of road traffic between the A-1 (Burgos road) and the M-11 (fairgrounds) to the M-30/Avenida de la Ilustracion and M -607 (Colmenar road). With this action, an important black spot is eliminated from the municipal road, alleviating the traffic congestion that occurs, fundamentally, at rush hour in the morning and in the afternoon at the entrance to the city on the A-1 and M- 40/M-11.

Four structures to suppress twisting

34,000 vehicles circulate daily through the Nudo Norte complex during the morning rush hour, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., and 33,800 vehicles in the afternoon rush hour, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. This road junction is used by more than 270,000 vehicles a day. With this work, as Almeida has pointed out, it is possible not only to reduce the time of transfers, but also the emission of CO2 into the atmosphere, with 14 tons less at this point.

The problem with this high-capacity road axis was the confluence of the M-30 and M-607 (Colmenar Viejo dual carriageway), the Paseo de la Castellana, the M-11 and the A-1, the section being Between this junction and the Manoteras junction, one of the busiest in Spain.

The remodeling project, with a final budget of 50 million euros, has contemplated the adaptation works in all its connections to eliminate the four braids, which are the ones that caused the loss of capacity of the tracks and large traffic jams. The objective is to reduce traffic congestion at rush hour in this enclave of Madrid, since its influence affects the rest of the city.

For this, four structures have been built:

• The direct connection viaduct between the Colmenar highway (M-607) and Paseo de la Castellana, which was completed in February this year.
• The direct connection underpass between the Castellana with the A-1 (highway to Burgos) and the M-11 (fairgrounds), which ended in May 2022.
• The direct connection underpass between Paseo de la Castellana and Avenida de la ilustracion/M-30, inaugurated in September.
• The last one, the one visited by the mayor today, is the direct connection underpass between the A-1 (Burgos road) and the M-11 with the M-30 (Illustration avenue) and the M-607 (Burgos road). of Colmenar).

Characteristics of the new underpass

The new underpass is 300 meters long and 8 meters wide, divided into two traffic lanes 3.50 meters wide each and two half-meter sidewalks. Attached to this passage is a gallery with a cross-section of more than 40 m² that houses two 2-meter-diameter pressure pipes that form part of the Canal de Isabel II water supply network and that it has been necessary to set back in order to execute this new step.

This underpass has been carried out with the highest standards in urban tunnel installations, with mechanical ventilation, fire detection, gas detection, access control and gauge systems, uninterruptible power supply, security lighting, emergency, as well as other security systems.

As in the other two underpasses, all these systems have been centralized through a Security and Control (ITS) system that will allow remote control of all equipment and signals from the Calle 30 Traffic Control Center through state-of-the-art technology that provides the new road with high safety.

We invite you to watch the summary video of the last 24 months of project activity by clicking here.