These prospections are a requirement of Water Resources to be able to promote the definitive project and that the works of the variant, that extend the passage of water from 105 to 488 tons per second, can begin between October and November.

TDB keeps you informed. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Technicians from the Consell de Mallorca have recently carried out the geotechnical studies needed to determine the characteristics of the retaining walls of the Ses Planes torrent as it passes through Sant Llorenç. These studies have been required by the Government of Mallorca’s Water Resources to be able to promote the final project of the Sant Llorenç bypass with a work that avoids floods like the one in October 2018.

These geotechnical studies are to determine the type and characteristics of the walls for channelling the torrent. When the results are known, they will be incorporated into the final project for the works, in order to multiply the passage of water under the roundabout and the Sant llorenç bypass. From a capacity of 105 cubic metres per second, the flow will increase to 488.5 cubic metres per second, or 488.5 tonnes of water per second.

The Consell de Mallorca carries out the geotechnical studies for the construction of the retaining walls of the ses Planes torrent as it passes through Sant Llorenç

It is expected that the project, incorporating all the necessary geotechnical and topographical studies, can be approved in the coming months and that the process of public exhibition and tendering of the works can begin. These long-awaited works are expected to begin between October and November, with a budget of around five million euros.

A little over a year ago, the project was unblocked, which had remained paralysed in Water Resources due to technical discrepancies between the two bodies, and which had been reported unfavourably on two occasions by the Government body. Now that the Sant Llorenç bypass project has been relaunched, all the necessary studies have been carried out. Those of the flow requested by the Water Resources, the structural calculations of the walls accompanying the torrent and the topographical ones, to complete the drafting and execution of a very complex project from a technical point of view.

THE WORKS

The project has already been validated by the technical experts of Carreteras. Once it has been approved by the plenary session of the Consell de Mallorca, the process of expropriations, public exhibitions and tenders for the works will begin, which will entail a lengthy process. It has a budget of approximately five million euros and consists of increasing the hydraulic capacity of the existing drainage works in the ses Planes torrent, which is the cause of the floods of October 2018 as it passes through the Sant Llorenç by-pass and the aforementioned.

Specifically, this project will increase the number of bridges over which the water flows from 4 to 10, with a capacity of 5.7 metres wide by 4.40 metres high. In this way, the drainage volume is increased by far, based on the estimate of the heaviest rainfall in the area in the last 500 years. In addition, the roundabout will also be modified to prevent it from acting as a water barrier. This infrastructure, according to the technicians, acted as a dam on 9 October 2018 and diverted the flow of the torrent towards the town centre.