In a statement, Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP) states that to allow the work to begin as quickly as possible, a contract will be drawn up on a design/construction basis, as part of an urgent procedure to be carried out in the coming weeks.

The company does not give any deadline for the start of the work, nor for its completion, adding only that the traffic cut on this section that connects Águeda to Albergaria-a-Velha “will continue for a while”.

As an alternative, IP recommends that traffic be diverted to Aveiro via the national roads EN333, EN235, EN109 and EN16, a journey of around an hour, which involves a detour of almost 50 kilometres.

Speaking to Lusa, a company source said that this is the best possible alternative, without counting on the use of motorways and avoiding municipal roads that do not have the capacity to support heavy traffic.

IP also states that the “landslide was caused by the saturation of the soil surrounding the platform”, which caused its collapse, and a solution is being studied to solve the problem that involves the execution of “a large-scale intervention”.