The operations at the Lago tunnel have caused traffic problems in recent months. The intervention in the section between Gemona-Osoppo and Amaro will be completed at the end of October
Land “queues between Roncobilaccio and Barberino del Mugello” for years accompanied – announced with a tone between solemn and bored by the speakers of the Green Wave – generations of motorists, before the realization of the longed-for variant of the pass on the A1 motorway erase the slow snakes of trucks and cars. It will not become as legendary as the much-cited Apennine stretch of the Autosole, but the Gemona Osoppo-Carnia has earned, from June onwards, dozens of citations in the traffic news. The construction site was “to blame” for the consolidation activities of the Lago tunnel heading north, which from the beginning of the summer caused slowdowns and queues on a regular basis, especially on weekends. This despite the commitment of Autostrade per l’Italia (which manages the A23 from Udine Sud to Tarvisio), which remodeled the construction site in the middle of the summer, activating the double lane in each direction on days in traffic forecasts indicated a peak of vehicles in transit. Three, five, even ten kilometers of vehicles lined up, precisely in the weeks when traffic on the A23 becomes more intense, also thanks to tourist flows.
The yard
The workers have been working since the end of June in the darkness of the Lago tunnel (which owes its name to the nearby lake of Cavazzo), illuminated by the floodlights. Just outside the tunnel, the giant goldfish stuck to the Somplago cliff (placed there years ago to commemorate the appointment with the fish festival in the cavazzina hamlet has never been removed) watches over the construction site, which ends right below, with the church of San Candido in plain sight. The narrowing of the carriageway adopted on June 21st begins three kilometers downstream, at kilometer 54 (+324) of the motorway heading north: variable message signs warn about the imminent construction site, a mobile one – which sounds a bit mocking – advises to “drive with caution”, while the signs in the emergency areas invite you to favor the return from the right to allow even those traveling in the slower lane to enter the opposite lane. In the northern fornix of the tunnel work the workers of the Baraldini Quirino building construction in Mirandola (Modena), which was awarded the contract worth over 10 million for the consolidation of the tunnel. Three shifts a day, about forty employees engaged, “who also worked on holidays”, underlines Luca Della Longa, director of the IX section of Autostrade per l’Italia.
More traffic
The last weekend was a nightmare. “Queues up to seven kilometers on the A23 between Gemona Osoppo and Carnia for works”, croaked the radio on Sunday afternoon, when a rear-end collision between two vehicles put the exclamation point on a day of already intense traffic. A lane, the tunnel, the “jump” from one carriageway to another: four kilometers are enough to create havoc and swell traffic to the point of paralyzing it, triggering the anger of motorists who would normally take just over two minutes to travel that stretch. “It took me almost an hour: at walking pace, in the tunnel, with partial information on the signs. Let’s say it’s not a nice business card for tourists, ”says a resolute reader who reported the inconvenience suffered on Sunday. «We were expecting an“ unloaded ”weekend, but the traffic was intense and there was some discomfort», admits Della Longa.
One more month of work
As you get closer to the end of the construction site, the speed limits are lowered: from 60 to 40 in the last stretch before returning to the dual-lane route. A pleonastic indication, because it is really difficult to put your foot on the accelerator that much. We tested it on Monday morning, the topical moment for the resumption of commercial traffic after the forced stop on Sunday, when in the face of few means on the A23 the stretch affected by the narrowing required a very low cruising speed. Those who usually travel on the motorway will have to resist a little longer: scheduled for 9 October, the end of the works is only expected at the end of the month.
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