The governor of Santa Fe, Maximiliano Pullaro, along with his counterparts from Entre Ríos, Rogelio Frigerio, and Córdoba, Martín Llaryora, witnessed this Thursday the passage of the 145 millionth vehicle since the Raúl Uranga-Carlos Sylvestre Begnis Subfluvial Tunnel was enabled in 1969.
Regarding this historical milestone, after 20,000 days of almost uninterrupted operation of the viaduct that connects the cities of Santa Fe and Paraná, Pullaro expressed: “This tunnel reflects a great feat of two great statesmen, who understood that at a certain moment in history had to have the determination to achieve regional integration, where two such important cities could be integrated through a unique infrastructure project in Argentina.”
“This decision allowed our provinces to grow, integrate and work to achieve growth for the entire region. It is the same thing we are trying to do right now together with the provinces of Entre Ríos and Córdoba with the Central Region, which shows the best of the interior of the country. From this historic place we want to always make a call for more and better federalism,” concluded Pullaro.
Frigerio said that “today marks the commemoration of federal integration and this tunnel is the symbol of the integration between two provinces, which until 55 years ago were not united, until the political decision of two governors.”
“This tunnel integrates towns and different countries, this is the relevance of public works,” highlighted the Entre Ríos governor and stated that “economic and social development comes hand in hand with the integration of Argentina with the world and among Argentines, but This will not be possible without infrastructure. That is why these three governors defend the importance of infrastructure and public works.”
For his part, Llaryora highlighted this “very important engineering work, but it is also a work of federal meaning. When we are often not heard in the interior, we cannot continue waiting. Here, two governors at the time, privileged to unite two towns, two provinces, in a strategic route for Argentina as well. It is a strategic, historic work, it is an iconic work of Argentina, but I also want it to be iconic of federalism.”
“Today we have another work that we are doing between the people of Santa Fe and the people of Córdoba, which has to do with water,” Llaryora recalled; She stressed that when “the Nation is not there, it is important that the provincial governments unite. A round of applause for those two governors who had the vision, the courage and the strength to do these works, and for these two governors who continue to work together, also in his memory.
Tunnel Month
Within the framework of the 64th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty that provided for the construction of the Subfluvial Tunnel, the historical exhibition “Paseo Cronológico” is being developed, which brings together objects, film records and period photographs, and a copy of the Interprovincial Treaty signed on June 15, 1960 by governors Uranga and Sylvestre Begnis.
Furthermore, June 28 marks the 55th anniversary of the removal of the last pipeline, thus breaking the isolation of Mesopotamia. That day will be declared Regional Integration Day.
Present on the occasion were the representatives of Santa Fe and Entre Ríos in that biprovincial entity, Lisandro Nelson Villar and Eduardo López Segura; the person in charge of the Historical Archive of the biprovincial entity, Norma Benzaquín; legislators and provincial authorities.
Data
Of the 145 million vehicles that have traveled over the viaduct to date, 30 million are large vehicles. The current traffic demand is around 12,000 vehicles per day, with peaks of 75,000 during holiday weekends.
In addition, the interprovincial link is among the bidirectional tunnels with the lowest accident rate in the world, according to admissibility values of the Technical Committee on Tunnel Operation of the World Road Association.
