What caused the fall on the retaining wall of the 16th kilometer of the “Struma” highway. Are these facilities regularly inspected and when will the landlocked section of expressway be fully reopened? The topic in “The Interview in NOVA News” commented the member of the Board of API Eng. Stoyan Nikolov.
„At the moment, an organization has been made to remove the earth masses that fell on the canvas. We are doing our best for May 2nd – if the highway is not fully functioning, then at least two lanes of it, the active and the overtaking one in the direction of Sofia, should work. If it becomes necessary, there will be some actions in the emergency lane, but we will not hinder the traffic,” said engineer Nikolov.
According to him, a survey of the area is now pending to see what are the causes of the landslide. “We assume that the large amount of rain in the last two weeks and the waterlogging of the soil led to the landslide”.
In the words of engineer Nikolov, until the section is cleared – it is not possible to say definitively what the causes of the accident were. “I can't say anything about the quality of construction yet. After the relevant tests are done – this will be established. From a review perspective – there definitely couldn't have been a bad inspection as monthly inspections are done on all such facilities. So if there was a problem, it would have been signaled and appropriate measures taken. The last inspection of this facility was about two weeks ago. "There were no structural violations or defects," he said.
Engineer Nikolov stressed that it was “a bit unusual that this wall fell without showing any signs that there was a problem”. “It is a bit of force majeure. Let people not worry. Usually when there's a problem – he is visible. There are cracks in the structures. So I don't expect such a case to happen again, he explained.