The Government of Chile has awarded the concession term to the preferred bidder for the Santiago-Farallones Route G-21 highway project to the consortium formed by the companies Icafal and Conpax.

The project consists of the improvement of the route that begins near the intersection with Av. Las Condes and that ends at the junction with Route G-251 (which leads to Valle Nevado, in the community of Farellones), in addition to approximately 1 km of Route G-245, in the direction of Minera Los Bronces.

The project, which represents an investment of CLP2,308,000 (approximately US$ 97 million) with a variable term of concession with a maximum of 45 years, considers the improvement of the layout and the rehabilitation of the existing pavement between the vicinity of Las Condes Avenue and Corral Quemado, the construction of a completely new three-lane roadway between Corral Quemado and the intersection with Route G-251 and the significant decrease in the steeper curves, which would go from 40 to 14 in the second half of the route.

The 1.1 km of existing pavement will be intervened and two bridges will be built on Route G-245 in the direction of the Los Bronces Mine, 29 bus stops, as well as an emergency response area, SOS telephones, lookouts and an area of rent and sale of chains, among others. Among the benefits of this work is to improve the connectivity between Santiago and the Yerba Loca Nature Sanctuary, the winter resorts of El Colorado, La Parva and Valle Nevado, and the community of Farellones. It also provides a significant travel time savings thanks to the increase of capacity to three tracks in the high mountain road sector, which will allow road management, ie, distribute the flows up and down according to existing demand, maintaining at all times both directions of transit enabled.

The accident rate is expected to decrease due to the fact that at present there are sectors of narrow roads, steep slopes and curves that will be reduced with the new layout.

Construction work is expected to begin in 2021 and to be extended for a period of five to six years.