Secretariat for Infrastructures upgrades alternate road to to Raminho Road on Terceira Island - Communication

Secretaria Regional do Turismo, Mobilidade e Infraestruturas

The Regional Secretariat for Tourism, Mobility and Infrastructures, through the Regional Directorate for Public Works, is already working on improving the traffic conditions on the alternate road to Raminho Road on Terceira Island.

This intervention, which will be carried out in April with the in-house resources of this Regional Government department, aims to create more comfort and better safety for traffic on this alternate road.

According to the assessment of the municipal Civil Protection authorities and the Regional Directorate for Public Works, the main road is still closed to traffic due to the danger it poses to people and property. It will remain so, as it fails to provide the minimum safety conditions for people and property and the seismic crisis on Terceira Island is still underway.

In the meantime, the Regional Secretariat for Tourism, Mobility and Infrastructures requested a technical analysis from the company Linha de Vida - Trabalhos em Altura, Lda. The findings of the report highlight several risks associated with the works at height required for the clearing and cleaning of a section of the side of the regional road between Cabo do Raminho and Mata da Serreta, including slope instability and geological risks deriving from the constant seismic activity in the area.

According to the report, the slopes in this area, which is part of the Santa Bárbara volcano, are too unstable to reopen the Raminho road to traffic. The risk identified in the slopes is heightened by the seismic crisis that still affects that area of Terceira Island and by the existing dangers that "can occur isolatedly or in tandem."

Slope movements are a specific risk in the area in question and "the seismic activity that has occurred in recent months has played a role in triggering the danger of slope movements, with increased severity in events of greater intensity, but also with reduced severity and on a more recurrent basis in events of lesser intensity, which have occurred frequently," the report states.

In this regard, the document in question states that "given the type of trachytic rock mass, which has a high degree of fracturing and natural alteration in terms of its natural conditions, combined with the seismic frequency registered at the site, the unstabilised area is highly susceptible to fracturing processes, fall and mobilisation of rock blocks of various sizes. This situation strongly affects the safety of working at height, both in terms of anchors and other support points and in terms of the risk of moving rock blocks due to stresses not resulting from the operators' actions."

Following the latest technical visit to the site last week, and combining the information collected, the Regional Directorate for Public Works plans to launch the tender in April for the project to renovate the entire Raminho area, including the main road, which has been extremely affected by the seismic crisis.