The Provincial Government signed a collaboration agreement on Wednesday to carry out feasibility studies for the bridge parallel to the Carretero, a road link that connects the cities of Santa Fe and Santo Tomé. The document was signed by senators and deputies from Santa Fe, the Ministry of Public Works of the Province and the municipalities of the capital city and Santo Tomé.
“In a context like the current one, where national public works are in sharp decline, Governor Maximino Pullaro decided to activate this work from the Province to build an alternative bridge to the Carretero to connect both cities. Therefore, we have the political decision and the guarantee of funds,” the Minister of Public Works, Lisandro Enrico, emphasized on the esplanade of the Santa Fe Legislature. He then highlighted that “the project has been worked on since the beginning of the administration based on the alternative proposed by the Secretary of Special Projects, José Garibay. “We are advancing in its preparation taking the levels of the type of soil that exists in the bed of the Salado River.” Finally, Enrico stressed that work is being done so that “in 2025 the works will be underway” and that “the intention is to have the technical feasibility in both water, environmental, urban and structural matters to be able to guarantee the development and carry out this bridge ”.
Decision and investment
In turn, the senator for the department of La Capital, Julio Paco Garibaldi, assured that “this initiative comes to settle an outstanding debt that the Nation has with Santa Fe, which we have as a State with the people of Santa Fe. A debt that we will be able to settle based on the decision of Governor Maximiliano Pullaro.” Then, the legislator listed the different problems presented by the viaduct – cut off since March 28 -, lamented “the lack of certainty about when the arrangement will be completed to be able to use it normally” and highlighted the decision of the Province to “do what is within reach, which is a bridge parallel to the Highway.”
Then, the provisional president of the Senate of Santa Fe, Felipe Michlig, said that “it is a historic day, not only for Santa Fe and Santo Tomé but for the region. More than 40,000 vehicles pass through the current bridge per day. The benefits will be received directly by the two cities and Greater Santa Fe, an area with 700,000 inhabitants, 20% of the Santa Fe population that will have a solution with the bridge.”
Deputy José Corral also welcomed “the decision to go ahead with this project for an alternative, two-lane complementary bridge next to the current Carretero bridge. It was an idea that we discussed with Paco Garibaldi and with Minister Enrico, who has the firm conviction of Governor Pullaro.”
Joint work
The mayor of Santa Fe, Juan Pablo Poletti, referred to the joint work between the provincial Executive, the municipalities and the Chambers of Deputies and Senators and the local Councils to promote the work. In this way, he valued “all of us fighting for a cause, a historical debt. Today, together, we want to see the tender as soon as possible, that is why those who can finance and the local governments are working on the development of the layout.”
For his part, the mayor of Santo Tomé, Miguel Weiss Ackerley, said that before taking office and with the current provincial management, different meetings were held to “achieve concrete progress” and said that “access to the cities of Santa Fe and Santo Tome is an important detail to take into account. We are very hopeful that it will be the initial, defining kickoff to advance the completion of this very important project, with a collapsed Highway Bridge that has been abandoned for decades.” The new viaduct would be located parallel to the highway, alleviating the flow of vehicles that is currently much greater than when it was built. The project will contain the urban effectiveness reports of the two cities, environmental and engineering, with two more lanes.
It should be noted that the senator for the San Justo department, Rodrigo Borla, was also present; deputies Pablo Farías, Mariano Cuvertino and Ximena García; the mayor of Sauce Viejo, Mario Papaleo; president of the Municipal Council of the city of Santa Fe, Adriana Molina, among other authorities of Santa Fe and the region.
