Two EPBMs for Spanish under river road crossing
Apr 2010
NFM news release
- A contract for two 14m diameter EPBMs is signed with NFM Technologies for a new ring road project in Seville, Spain. The new 78km long SE-40 road around the city requires two separate twin-bored tunnels of 2,180m and 1,900m under the two channels of the Guadalquivir River.
- The contracts are signed with two separate Spanish groups - the OHL/SANDO/AZVI and the COPISA/ALDESA/BRUESA consortia - and for projects with the Spanish national roads authority Sociedad Estatal de Infraestructuras del Transporte Terrestre (SEITT). The contracts with NFM provide for the design, manufacture and on-site assembly and dismantling of the TBMs as well as assistance during the operational phase. Manufacture of the TBMs will be carried out mainly at NFM's Le Creusot plants in France and the machines are due to be ready for shipping in February 2011.
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Plan of the SE-40 river crossing
- In a total of four drives one TBM will excavate twin 1,900m-long tunnels under one channel of the Guadalquivir River, while the other will excavate twin 2,180m tunnels under the second channel. The terrain will be principally composed of sand, gravel and marl. To satisfy these geological conditions, the machines will be designed to withstand a pressure of 5 bars and to make hyperbaric interventions easier. They will comprise four independent injection systems for bentonite, limestone loam, foam and polymer. These injection systems, which have already been successfully tested by NFM Technologies, will ensure better control of earth pressure under the river.
- The construction of this new ring road aims to reduce traffic on the existing ring road in order to provide better infrastructure for the whole metropolitan area of Seville and its 1.43 million inhabitants. It will also optimize the regional and national road network. This ambitious project - for which almost € 450 million (US$613 million) will be supplied by the SEITT - is in line with the country's infrastructure development plan and is backed by the European Union as part of its TEN - Trans-European Network - priority program for improving road and rail transportation through the member nations of the EU as well as part of the European Economic Recovery Plan.
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