2023-11-15 16:11:25
The never ending bridgetaking two years to complete, El Jobo in Guanajay, collapsed from the former province of Havana, was the complex work that welcomed Roberto Castrillo Suárez, in Artemisa and our press.
We met him as deputy director of the Provincial Department of Road Infrastructure, between driving piles to excavate and cast, as the machine drilled, and 13 years after the first day he is director of the Government Road Center, with dreams and achievements—always a work-, capable of turning him (in our opinion) into a man who has contributed the most to the province, with more than one lasting investment over time.
The civil engineer who graduated in 1988 has lived through difficult times. Thus he remembers another complex bridge, that of Machurrucuto, because after an accident he lost a beam and had to be rebuilt. on site and with immediacy the Havana-Pinar path.
“In 2014 we took on the 58th Street canal, at the head, a titanic work of digging and plating while dumping residual water. We worked on the same land and concluded with the pavement of the artery. Despite continuing to be functional, it requires cleaning and greater care for those who live in that place, previously threatened by floods,” he says.
Several sewers in Bahía Honda have Castrillo as an investor along with the Comprehensive Construction Company: that of Los Hoyos, Tabla de Agua 1 and 2, on the way to Morrillo; more mountain slides like the one in Pedrales and we attend to other roads of the Turquino Plan that we must maintain, not always with the necessary resources.
“Another complex work was the access road to the Ariguanabo Warehouse Base, in Bauta, where containers from the Mariel Special Development Zone are assembled and disassembled, which avoids paying for long stays of ships in the port. “We made a change of elevation. The hill was very steep and we ‘accommodated’ it so that the containers could travel according to Cuban standards and at the same time we restored all the roads from the highway to Cayo La Rosa.
The construction of the Jobo Bridge and the recovery of roads in San Cristóbal and Bahía Honda are some of the works that in Artemisa bear the seal of Castrillo / Archive Photo
Think about the header
Castrillo, a man with a flat pencil and boots among the arid, Guanajayense according to his name, knows himself without schedules. From his first days in Artemisa he was absorbed in how to resolve the traffic flow in the municipality, which has become the provincial capital since 2011.
“We presented – at the request of Raúl Rodríguez Cartaya, head of the Provincial Administration at that time – the Road Development Program prepared together with the Pinar del Río Project Company, to be executed in the short and long terms, very functional and with many dreams included. “The first, decentralize the central highway, with two directions and difficult to navigate during peak hours: 7:00 am and 5:00 pm. It was studied, beyond leaving a single direction on 33rd Street, to find another access to the city. Céspedes was the street chosen, due to the road safety provided by its sidewalks.”
“The roundabout for the entrance road took thought. It is not circular, but elliptical. We anticipated priority for those who rotate and vehicles from 41st Avenue, but when it was inaugurated, without the road to the Highway, Transit decided that the signs would be in favor of the center, and the custom took root.
“We think about gardening, with three types of plants. The Bautensen Ariel Santana was in charge, with the Pinar del Río Project Company, and Comunales maintains it. That entrance with the Eye of the City identifies us in the country.
“Giving continuity to the plant, a jewel of Cuban architecture, occupied us from the entrance road with another road to turn, and continue through the plant.
“Later, with the use of milling machines to avoid exceeding the level of the sidewalk, we paved Maceo and Céspedes streets, exit and entrance to the header, respectively. The orientation was changed and the traffic flow improved, and in coordination with Traffic Engineering, we placed the traffic lights.
“The extension of 40th Street, to the Mausoleum, was another dream of the program to link the municipalities of the Southern Circuit and Mayabeque with the capital.
He comments, with an extreme sense of belonging, on an old desire from that program: the road to the highway. Despite the existence of the link with Cayabajos, the 12 kilometers (km) to reach it and the rugged conditions of that road at km 49 of the highway made it dysfunctional.
“For this road we used an old guardrail. Steep slopes changed our ideas such as reaching El Jobo, and the feasibility studies indicated more economical steps with a view to the national highway, an investment that will be amortized in about seven years, with the energy savings of the vehicles and other indicators.
“Despite the economic situation of the country and the setbacks of Covid, we do not stop dreaming and doing. In a sugarcane field we discovered an aggregate quarry just 2 km away, while we had to move it 15 km away, so we negotiated and paid for the grass for five years.
“The economy did not allow us, there were those who raised their hand to build only two lanes, but it was more viable to take longer and build four, being an expeditious road. We thought about removing the central separator, but we resisted, and there it is.
“Many of those who worked there got sick and others died in the middle of Covid without enjoying this dream, but the truth is that it will transcend as a work for the future, with the efforts of the Empresa Constructora Integral, Brigades of the Blas Roca of Havana, others from Pinar, from the Mariel Special Development Zone. That is my greatest pride!
“Now we dream of one that circumvents the city, a road on which the population-urban development of the province will be based. We had conceptual ideas, and execution began, hence those sidewalks from the road to the National Highway based on the city environment, in an adjoining area where multifamily buildings are planned… and a service center.
“There are 700 meters with the first layer placed of that road that plans to border Artemisa, to be enjoyed for years to come.”
We all dream, it is an attitude inherent to human beings, but doing it on the job combines risk and satisfaction, challenge and also pride.
Looking ahead imposes how much needs to be done, especially in road maintenance; But in this hectic life, I think it’s worth looking back 13 years.
The Artemis of 2023 is not the same, neither can these lines, even if they want to, thank through a single voice the work of men and women in boots and helmets between bridges and guardrails, capable of driving on roads, whatever Be it the direction, metaphorically, they lead us to make dreams come true.
One of the most complex and also strategic works in the 13 years of Artemisa is the road to the Havana-Pinar highway / Archive Photo
In about seven years it is expected to amortize the budget invested in the road from Artemisa to the highway, in terms of fuel savings and other indicators / File Photo
In addition to the Comprehensive Construction Company #1, others from Blas Roca, the ZEDM and Pinar del Río and La Habana, supported the road work / File Photo
From the beginning of the province, a development of road infrastructure was foreseen, as demanded by a province and its capital city / Archive Photo
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