Earthworks, everything is ready for the reopening of via Vecchia Barletta

At the beginning of next week there could be the definitive reopening of the vehicular and pedestrian crossing of Via Vecchia Barletta which has been closed for almost 10 months due to the undergrounding of the railway in the town of Andria. Small but significant steps forward for the project which is involving a 3 kilometer city route and which is now proceeding without major hitches also because, since last month, the construction site has been entirely at the disposal of the Ferrotramviaria and the Integra consortium which is taking care of the works . The reopening of via Vecchia Barletta will bring the traffic back to how it was before with the consequent closure of the passage of cars inside the fruit and vegetable market and the removal of the roundabout in via Lissa. This is a point of a few hundred meters where, however, it will be necessary to dig from scratch to definitively complete the tunnel. In the meantime, there are at least six points on the route where the workers are at work. We are still excavating in a couple of places to complete the water collection tanks while we are starting to glimpse more substantial work near the Andria Nord and Andria Centro stations where in the meantime the central pillars that will accompany the installation of the roof have already appeared of the station. Work is also underway near Viale Gramsci where, once the roundabout has been eliminated and the operations for the micropiles have been completed, excavations are underway to reach the level of the tunnel. Work is underway on the tanks further towards Via Bisceglie where, in the meantime, there is an alternative pedestrian crossing and the start of the descent of the tracks is being raised before installing the iron bridge that will cross the road. Where there remain some unknowns is on the new fruit and vegetable market which is not yet ready at the moment and this will certainly postpone the transfer of operators which at this point cannot take place before the end of the year. There also remains another problem that has not yet been resolved: the deadline of next June. We are moving towards a formal extension of the works at least to the end of the year. An extension which, however, still does not formally exist from the European Union. And this, inevitably, still leaves us with no peace of mind in view of the many works still to be completed to formally deliver the work.