The construction of the D1 motorway stretch near Levoča, a part of which consists of the collapsed road bridge near the villages of Kurimany and Iliašovce in the Prešov region, will take six to eight months longer than planned to complete as a result of the accident, said National Highway Company (NDS) investment director Viktória Chomová on Tuesday, February 19.
The stretch in question between Jánovce and Jablonov is therefore expected to be completed no sooner than in the second half of 2014, the TASR newswire wrote. All construction work was halted on the entire stretch following the accident that took place on November 2, 2012. Work on the motorway resumed – except for the collapsed bridge – in December. Work on the bridge has yet to restart, as the investigation into the tragedy in which four workers were killed is still in progress.
In addition, the accident has prompted the NDS to enforce more effective safety measures on road construction sites. "Such an event always brings about a retrospective assessment of measures related to the construction of motor and expressways," added Chomová. One of the measures involves the obligation on the part of construction companies to present an independent evaluation for any temporary installed support systems used in the construction of various road structures. [The measure is a reaction to the faulty support structure that is thought to be the reason for the Kurimany bridge collapse. - ed. note].
(Source: TASR)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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