Nine mayors from the Southern Region of Río Negro asked Vialidad Nacional to include urgent works on route 23 in the 2027 Budget, with 35 kilometers unpaved and a bridge that has been down since 2012 whose reconstruction would cost around 10 million dollars.
Nine mayors from the Southern Region of Río Negro submitted a written request to Vialidad Nacional demanding urgent works on national route 23, a road that supplies the Línea Sur and connects production facilities with the port of San Antonio Este. The request has the backing of Governor Alberto Weretilneck.
When signing the transfer of routes 151 and 22 to provincial jurisdiction, Weretilneck again reminded the head of Vialidad Nacional, Marcelo Campoy, that the crossing over the Nahuel Niyeu stream has been closed for more than 10 years because of the bridge collapse. Rebuilding that structure would cost around 10 million dollars, according to their estimates, and they want the national government to include the work in the 2027 Budget bill under discussion in Congress.
The request was supported by the municipalities of Pilcaniyeu, Comallo, Jacobacci, Maquinchao, Los Menucos, Sierra Colorada, Ramos Mexía, Valcheta and Ñorquinco. “We are not demanding privileges. We are demanding answers, safety and the fulfillment of the responsibilities that correspond to each,” the officials said.
The iron and concrete bridge, located between kilometers 113 and 116, collapsed in 2012 after a flood. Since then, alternative and precarious crossings have been opened, also exposed to flooding and outright impassable in critical periods.
Route 23 still has some 35 kilometers unpaved, where the national government had begun work with weed-clearing tasks last year but which remain unfinished. Along with those gravel stretches come the progressive deterioration of the asphalt surface, the presence of potholes and craters, and traffic being cut off during floods.
The mayors called for “an urgent intervention, with the allocation of the necessary resources and the priority execution of maintenance, patching, repaving and completion of the pending works along the entire route.” They described the situation as “a historic debt to the inhabitants of the Línea Sur” and warned: “Every day, thousands of Río Negro residents, workers, students, producers, health teams and families from our towns, as well as visitors from different parts of the country, travel along a road that today poses a serious risk to road safety.” The document closes with a call to respect “the right of the Southern Region to be integrated and connected under decent and safe conditions.”
