I/72 Zbojská, saddleback – Tisovec, Čertova dolina valley2013-2015

The project purpose was the reconstruction of the existing road into high-capacity road that meets the requirements of forecast traffic volumes and the parameters of Class I road in terms of unconstrained and safe traffic, as well as from the point of view of impact of the construction and operation on local population and the natural environment. Before the construction the condition of the I/72 road in the planned section was, from horizontal alignment and especially cross-sectional profile point of view, unsatisfactory, which were the main obstacles to uninterrupted traffic flow and road safety. Large problems were caused by freight traffic and collisions of heavy goods vehicles, which were later also prohibited from transit if their length exceeded 12.0 m. It involved the traffic-restraint points (bottlenecks) and continuous sections where the carriageway width did not allow passing of goods vehicles coming from opposite direction. These problems were worsening by the arrival of wintertime.

In this area the I/72 road is the only possible link between the north and south-east parts of Banská Bystrica Self-governing Region and the level of its standard has direct impact on economic and tourist activities in the whole project area. Thus the reconstruction of I/72 road has a significant influence on region’s development. The main road structure is the reconstruction of I/72 road. The reconstruction involves upgrading of cross-sectional profile to C 7.5/50 category and partial improvement of horizontal alignment.

The I/72 road is an important link in direction north – south in Banská Bystrica region and it significantly influences the development of this part of the region. By constructing the two-lane directionally undivided road of the C7, 5/50 (40) category with the overall length of 4.210 km, an improvement of road traffic safety, increasing of road capacity, travel speed and reduction of accident rate, fuel consumption, car emissions (pollutants) and the noise level, has been provided for. Not least, a high-standard connection of the whole region to superior road network has been arranged for.

The scope of I/72 road reconstruction in the length of 4.210 km was divided into 3 sections:
Section I - km 0.000 - 1.550
Section II - km 1.550 - 3.375
Section III - km 3.375 - 4.210

The Works are situated in land register area of the town of Tisovec at the border of level II and III protection of Muránska planina National Park protective zone. The Works alignment correspond to the routing of the existing I/72 road. In two parts the Works element crosses the railway line no.174 Brezno – Jesenské, in the remaining part it is mostly routed parallel to it.

In terms of location within the Banská Bystrica Self-governing Region road network’s structure it is an integral part of north - south linking of the I/50 road and the I/66 road of international importance. The I/72 road is not part of Class I roads included in the road network of international importance.

The most significant structures of the project, that crucially influenced the whole project character were the road structures, three road bridges, two railway bridges, nine left-side revetment walls, nine right-side retaining walls and protective measures at left-side slopes in three places in chainage direction. From 5 bridges two are dealt with by means of reconstruction and the remaining 3 are new. The most interesting is the single-span railway bridge with the superstructure formed by two steel truss girders, with the top steel orthotropic deck and continuous track bed. Not less complex is the four-span bridge over the unnamed brook at km 3.449 designed to be constructed as prestressed cast-in-situ structure with the overall length of 78 m. The remaining bridges have been designed to be constructed as buried reinforced-concrete precast element bridges situated within the road embankment with the clear span of 7 m, another one as a buried bridge with metal plate superstructure and gabion-formed retaining walls and one bridge as a vault of r-c slab with steel girders.