Coimbra, Portugal, Jan. 9, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's largest motorway operator, Brisa, and another company in the group, as well as four directors, will stand trial this month at the Coimbra Court on suspicion of responsibility for the collapse of a section of the A14 motorway near Figueira da Foz in 2016.
The defendants will answer for a crime of infringement of construction rules, with the Public Prosecutor's Office accusing them of ignoring all warnings about the risk of collapse of the section of the A14, the motorway linking Coimbra to Figueira da Foz, and of failing to take the actions that would have been necessary to prevent the collapse of the road surface, which eventually occurred on 2 April 2016.
The trial, which begins on the 22nd, will include Brisa and Brisa Gestão de Infraestruturas (BGI), two members of the group's management committee at the time of the events, as well as the administrator and department director of the subsidiary company responsible for managing the concessionaire's infrastructure.
According to the indictment to which the Lusa news agency had access, the collapse of the section was due to the tubular steel structures used for agricultural or hydraulic subways, which regularly need structural reinforcement due to the oxidation of the steel.
After an incident had been reported on that particular section in 2010, an inspection of the structure was scheduled, which was only carried out in February 2012 by a BGI engineer, only in the visible area of the structure since part of it was partially submerged, said the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP).
During this inspection, corrosion and water leaks were noticeable. Overall, the structure was classified as in a poor state of repair, and an intervention is scheduled for 2017.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the problems recorded during this inspection worsened over time. In May 2015, a depression in the pavement of around three centimetres was detected due to the collapse of one of the pipes, which had ruptured due to corrosion.
Later that month, two BGI engineers went to the site and identified "significant anomalies" in all the pipes, drawing up a technical document in which they recommended the immediate cutting of the right-hand lane in the Figueira da Foz - Coimbra direction, constant monitoring of the platform and the urgent implementation of shoring (reinforcement) in all the pipes.
However, according to the Public Prosecutor's Office, both BGI's managers and Brisa's administrators ignored the recommendations after being made aware of the technical document, except for the cutting of the right-hand carriageway, which was carried out in defiance of the inspection body.
The Public Prosecutor's Office noted that, in the end, those responsible decided to reinforce only the most affected structure, and only partially, in an intervention without a project or specifications.
Even though the structure was "at imminent risk of collapse", the administrators decided in October 2015 to suspend a major intervention and adopt an alternative solution that ended up delaying the whole process.
As a result, on 2 April 2016, the pavement initially gave way to a depression around 40 centimetres deep. According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, five cars passed through it, and their drivers momentarily lost control of their vehicles.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the case didn't take on other proportions and consequences for drivers only by "pure chance and due to the prompt intervention of the passengers of the first vehicles that passed by, who immediately stood by the roadside waving and warning the drivers in every possible way to at least reduce their speed and thus minimise the risk of passing through that place".
The landslide is thought to have caused around €1 million in damage to the A14.
JGA/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
