Motorway gate to the High Tatras open

For a long time underfinanced section of the D1 motorway is a Christmas present for road users.

(Mengusovce, 11 December 2007, Anton Oberhauser) – Today, the Važec-Mengusovce  section of the D1 motorway below the High Tatras opens. The section is delivered to road users by the construction contractor, the Inžinierske stavby, a.s. company, a member of the COLAS group. Today only its part – a half profile is opened. By October 2008 the 12 222 m long section will be delivered in full extent - all four lanes. But already today we can say that the northern part of the D1 motorway has been remarkably extended in the High Tatras region.

The construction connecting to the Hybe-Važec section started already in 1998 but almost immediately after that it was suspended due to a revised plan of motorway construction. The work started with even higher intensity in 2005. The current price of the contract amounts to 4,2 billion Slovak crowns.

The dissected landscape around the section required the construction of 22 bridges, one underpass, three grade-separated interchange, and two noise barriers. Especially the 250 meters long underpass situated next to the village of Lučivná, where the motorway crosses the bio corridor used by wild animals, represents a unique constructional solution.

In this underpass Inžinerske stavby, for the first time after a longer break, built-in a solid, cement-concrete pavement, using a new modern slipform paver. Next to Lučivná there is also another structure that is not typical for a motorway – a footbridge from which Inžinierske stavby will build a pathway leading to the nearby sanatorium for children. This structure is accessible without barriers and was built using the technology that is rather rare in our country – it has no supports and is not pre-stressed but it has load blocks on the edges that kind of “pull the bridge up”.

The D1 Važec-Mengusovce motorway section contains also the highest point of the motorway system in Slovakia. The neighbouring section, Mengusovce-Jánovce, which is currently under construction, will provide a motorway access to the High Tatras also from the south. These projects extend the portfolio of the constructions in the execution of which Inžinierske stavby has been participating in this region. The portfolio includes also the new amphitheatre in Východná determined for the Východná folk festival, which was completed in this year.

The Inžinierske stavby, a. s. company, Košice was established in 1951. Currently it is the second largest building company in Slovakia and ranks among the most important contractors of the National Highway Company. Besides the construction of roads and bridges the company focuses also on the construction of sewerage systems and WWTPs, gas lines, waterworks, and other construction projects. In 2004 a French group, Colas, one of the world leaders in the area of road construction, became a majority shareholder in the company.