Month: August 2023

A special treatment is being used to add old tires to the asphalt mixes of its toll roads.

According to figures of the Ministry of the Environment, close to 6 million tires are discarded in Chile and of that total, only 17% are recycled. A tire can take 1,000 years to degrade and disappear, so accumulating this product in disuse can become a great environmental problem.

Aware of this issue, in 2015, the VíasChile Group began testing the reuse of tires through process that is innovative and differentiating in Chile. It consists of adding tire dust to the asphalt mixes used for its toll roads.

Patricio González, Project Head of VíasChile, explained the importance of this sustainable process: “Recycled tires are a project that works to the direct benefit of the environment in our country. In Chile, the equivalent to Mount Santa Lucía in tires is discarded each year.  And VíasChile has promised to participate in their recycling in the form of tire dust.”

It is notable that the concessionaire has been looking for sustainable and ecofriendly alternatives for years that will cause less damage to the environment, while at the same time optimizing the repair and paving of toll roads. As emphasized by Jorge Villarroel, the Company’s Chief Technical Officer, “All technological developments used by VíasChile on its toll roads are studied at length and then tested in laboratories to ensure the quality and the outcome for our roads.”

The program has helped more than 2,500 at-risk senior citizens in the municipality of San Bernardo.

A year ago, the Food Network, the largest food bank in Chile, and Autopista Central of the VíasChile Group, the Luksic Foundation and members of the Food Network united to inaugurate the first Social Pantry in the municipality of San Bernardo.

This is a project of great social and environmental impact that works thanks to the rescue of products donated by members of the Food Network.

This community space is a center where food and basic necessities are supplied, and it is focused on at-risk senior citizens. More than 745,000 kilos of food have been delivered since it opened. 74% of its beneficiaries are women and the remaining 26% are men.

People must meet the following requirements to be a member of the Social Pantry: be receiving the basic solidary old-age pension, earn individual income below the minimum wage, and reside in the municipality where the Social Pantry is located.

In addition to nutritional support, it aims to be a contribution to the program’s beneficiaries in order to guide and accompany them in the search for solutions to common problems like safety, drug rehabilitation and health care.

How does the Social Pantry work?

The senior citizens benefited by this program can pick up products once a week at the Social Pantry. Each registered beneficiary has a certain day and time to go and the delivery room is organized in gondolas that specify the number of products that can be taken. Each person has the option of deciding which products they want to take. No money is used in the location.

People can register by answering a brief survey at the Social Pantry’s office or by sending an e-mail to incorporacion@redalimentos.cl.

The Pantry will make from 8 to 10 kilos of products available to beneficiaries, 1.5 kilos of which will consist of liquids, 2.5 kilos of general foodstuffs, and the remaining 4 kilos of fruits and vegetables, in addition to toiletries and cleaning products.

The measure aims to make toll roads sustainable and reduce the waste generated by the repair of roads in the nation.

25% of the 80 thousand kilometers of roads in the country have been paved and 90% of that percentage is asphalt paving. The waste generated by repairing roads in our country totals approximately 30,000 cubic meters, equal to 95 soccer fields, which causes great damage to the environment. Due to the current climate crisis, VíasChile has decided to use reclaimed asphalt paving (RAP) to repair its roads and the streets alongside toll roads, which will help stabilize roads. It will also be used to pave dirt roads that generate pollution for inhabitants, and it will extend the useful life of products that used to be discarded.

RAP is made from the remains of demolition or production surpluses . It is a technique that has been used for years in other countries, but only recently began to be used in Chile.

Andrés García, paving clerk, explains the process as “what we did was re-cure asphalt in poor condition by adding binders taken from the same activities for toll road conservation. As time goes by, we are able to say that it is a viable, environmentally friendly technology sustainable over time.”

VíasChile has proposed the goal of making its toll roads sustainable. So, in recent years, it has worked with the National Roadworks Laboratory to study asphalt mixes containing environmentally friendly recycled products to reduce the carbon footprint caused by keeping waste.

 

As a way to reaffirm its commitment to the Fundación Down UP with which it is collaborating for a second consecutive year, the VíasChile Group held a campaign called #Calecetinescambiadoschallenge, an activity that seeks to make the Company’s employees aware of World Down Syndrome Day.

Close to 400 pairs of socks were delivered to employees, who were invited to share them and post photographs on social networks under the campaign’s hashtag.  The main motivation is to emphasize the beauty of diversity and tolerance towards these individuals suffering from chromosome abnormalities.

The campaign was held simultaneously at Fundación Down Up, a non-profitable organization that brings together more than 750 families throughout the country who receive support and guidance through psychology support programs, special schools, humanization efforts and health care and life care centers in communities.

VíasChile has provided speech therapy to 60 families with Down Syndrome children of ages ranging from 5 months to 3 years. This therapy stimulates communicative and cognitive development and encourages social interaction in the different settings in which children with Down Syndrome interact.

It is the first toll road operator to decide to use this in all its production processes.

VíasChile, the concessionaire of Autopista Central, Highway 68, Paso Los Libertadores and Ruta Los Andes, has implemented the Warm Mixes Asphalt (WMA) Program in order to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and environmental impacts. It will use warm mixes in its entire chain of asphalt production. This action will extend the useful life of paving because of less exposure to high temperatures in the manufacturing process.

By using an additive, optimal conditions of manufacture are achieved to work the asphalt at a lower temperature, thereby using less energy.

Jorge Villarroel, Chief Technical Officer of VíasChile, said that pavement becomes more durable using this type of technique. “The use of warm mixes puts us at the forefront in the implementation of innovative techniques to produce the asphalt to be used in paving in our country. In addition to extending the durability of the mixes, this technology will help us reduce the consumption of fossil fuels and protect the health of our employees.”

One of the important environmental commitments of VíasChile is to constantly search for innovations to be able to reduce CO₂ emissions during operations and be environmentally friendly. Thanks to the use of warm mixes, of perpetual pavement and the incorporation of RAP in all asphalt mixing for our pavements, we are contributing to recycling, a reduction in fuel consumption and a decrease in polluting emissions.

Red Activa held its first official meeting of 2023 at the offices of PwC Chile, attended by representatives of different actors in the private sector.

Andrés Barberis, Chief Executive Officer of the VíasChile Group, and María Virginia Grau, the Company’s Chief People and Organization Officer, attended the first meeting of Red Activa, a community whose objective is a commitment to gender equity, inclusion and diversity.

At the meeting, activities for the coming months were planned in its now third year of existence. The new members of the network were introduced at the meeting, which lasted close to one and one-half hours: Antofagasta Minerals, Sigdo Koppers and Essbio. The other members of this network are: CCU, Copec Retail, Hualpén, Scotiabank, SMU and VíasChile. Now there are two companies in the community whose central offices are outside of Santiago (Hualpén and Essbio), which demonstrate geographic inclusivity.  The Red Activa organization is articulated by Fundación ChileMujeres and LT-PULSO in collaboration with PwC Chile.

During the meeting, activities were planned, like surveys to be conducted among member companies, in addition to talks that will be held at the TV studios of La Tercera. There was also discussion about how this type of meeting is key to networking and, above all, helping the country achieve greater inclusion and gender equity in the workplace.

The project, promoted by Autopista Central together with the Ministry of Public Works and the Municipality of Quinta Normal, arose from the common motivation of recovering this public space by creating sports areas and making it a place where local inhabitants can meet.

An important public-private initiative was developed jointly by Autopista Central, of the VíasChile Group, the Ministry of Public Works, through the concession agreement Government Inspector, and the Municipality of Quinta Normal. It consists of a “Sports Corridor,” an initiative where sports-related activities can be held as a way to promote new uses of this space.

The space measures 800 m² alongside the General Velásquez Road of Autopista Central, between Salvador Gutiérrez and José Luis Sanfuentes Streets in the municipality of Quinta Normal. Its route has three circuits differentiated by colors and distances, for use by youths, senior citizens and children riding tricycles and scooters.

This project was developed in a period of three months through collaborative work with the community where their needs and opinions were heard. Locals also participated in the conceptual design, the definition of activities and the painting of the circuits, which resulted in this “Sports Corridor.”

As an added value to this initiative, the Photio additive was added to the paint sealant, which replicates the photosynthesis process. Its use in this project is a way for Autopista Central to collaborate with the environment. This additive equals the CO₂ emissions that would be captured by approximately 1,500 mature trees. The project’s contribution is not only focused on activating a public space but also on contributing to environmental decontamination.

In the words of  Andrés Barberis, Chief Executive Officer of VíasChile, “Making a good use of public space that locals can take advantage of, and thereby offering better safety to all communities, is part of the objective that we proposed when we began this project.  We are very happy to see how locals have participated, the attendance at meetings and collaboration in the painting of the space. When the public sector and the organized community unite, we can do great things. This Sports Corridor is the outcome of united efforts.”

According to Karina Delfino, Mayor of Quinta Normal, “This project is very important to us because this type of public–private initiative helps improve the city and provide safer spaces for the inhabitants of Quinta Normal.” And Juan Manuel Sánchez, General Director of Public Works Concessions, underscored that “This type of alliance improves the quality of life of all people and the inhabitants made this space their own because they did it participatively and must now care for it. I want to thank VíasChile, the concessionaire of Autopista Central, because today it is making huge efforts for these things to happen.”

This chair is intended to develop knowledge in the areas of transportation infrastructure and road safety by encouraging innovation and the sustainability of operations.

In order to promote an expansion of knowledge, good practices and innovation in relation to transportation infrastructure management, the Abertis Group, VíasChile and the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (abbreviated as PUC in Spanish) awarded the “Abertis Chair” prize, which recognizes the work of undergraduate and graduate students in the subjects of transportation, road safety and sustainable mobility.

Present at the ceremony were Andrés Barberis, Chief Executive Officer of the VíasChile Group; Professor Juan de Dios Ortúzar, Chair Director; Loreto Valenzuela, Engineering Dean; academics of the university, panel members and students. Juan Carlos Muñoz, Minister of Transportation and Telecommunications; Georgina Flamme, Director of the Abertis Foundation; and Ignacio Sánchez, President of the Catholic University, also attended remotely.

Emphasized during the ceremony was the fact that in an increasingly more complex and interdependent world, businesses need to know the progress that science and new technologies make available to business management. And there lies the importance of this initiative for VíasChile as it represents a space for new ideas and proposals to create transportation infrastructure and road safety projects at the service of society.

In his video, Minister Muñoz expressed gratitude for the invitation to participate in this eighth ceremony of the “Abertis Chair,” and he emphasized that “this award is focused on transportation and infrastructure management services and road safety and sustainable mobility services, both of great importance to the Ministry. Sometimes thinking creatively is where one can find innovations and interesting solutions that are part of what inspires us today.” He also said that the chair is very much in line with the work of his ministry, both in reducing the number of deaths from road accidents and in making this system more sustainable.

Andrés Barberis also underscored that “the world has changed significantly, which has translated into new trends in the sphere of transportation, infrastructure and road safety.

“In this respect, the Abertis Chair is a tool apt for undertaking those stimulating and urgent challenges because it invites you to think about new solutions to achieve a smart, safe and sustainable mobility.”

The “Ex Aequo” winners in the category of “Transportation Infrastructure Management” of the “Abertis Chile Prize” were Thomas Guerrero, whose thesis was entitled “Assessment and Correction of Endogeneity Problems in Discrete Choice Models,” and Filipe Temten, whose research project was entitled “Inhabited Infrastructures: Projecting new relationships between segregated transport routes and urban fabric.”

The winner in the “Road Safety” category was Sandy Bolufé, with his doctoral thesis on “Design and evaluation of adaptive beaconing algorithms for cooperative vehicular safety systems.”

The winners will become finalists for the “International Abertis Prize” that is awarded annually from among the winners from all countries where this contest is held.

In order to foster the use of clean energy and reduce CO₂ emissions into the environment, VíasChile added 30 100% electric pick-ups to its fleet, assigned to maintenance and conservation of Autopista Central, Rutas del Pacífico, Autopista Los Libertadores and Autopista Los Andes.

With this change, the carbon footprint of VíasChile will be reduced by 188 tons of CO₂, equal to the emissions that would be captured by 1,100 trees in a year.

These new vehicles, in operation since August 2022, do not emit any contaminating gases while they are running. They are silent, which avoids noise pollution, they consume less energy, and they reduce the handling of hazardous waste.

According to María Pía Tejos, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Manager of VíasChile, “our goal is to continue operating the tolls road of the VíasChile Group from an increasingly more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach. So, we are orienting all our actions to reducing the impact on the natural environmental, especially on the communities where we operate.”

In this respect, with the change to electric pick-ups, VíasChile is meeting three Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and helping to combat climate change and its adverse effects because it is caring for air quality, managing waste, and making the use of natural resources more efficient.

The new Voltera pick-ups, model Rich 6 EV, stand out for their 4×2 capacity, a fully electric system and travel distance of a maximum of 400 kms without having to recharge. They use a 67 kWH lithium battery and have a 120 kW engine (164 HP) and a torque of 420 Nm.

VíasChile currently has four recharging stations in San Bernardo, Lo Prado, Quillota and Colina. It will soon add three more: a second station in San Bernardo, one at the Southern Arterial Toll Road and one in Panquehue.