Building a new road through the glowing lava
Work on the construction of a new Grindavíkurvegur road began yesterday. mbl.is/Hákon
The construction of the new Grindavíkurvegur Road has begun. Contractors began work on it at four o'clock yesterday. This is the fourth time this section of road has been laid over lava since the eruption started in November last year.
This time, Grindavíkurvegur Road will be moved slightly and the old road will be used for those tourists who want to stop to form a circle around the lava, according to Jón Haukur Steingrímsson, a geotechnical engineer at Efla.
The section of road that will be cleared is about 600 m. mbl.is/Hákon
Clearing a six-hundred-meter section
According to him, a 600-meter section must be cleared to reconnect the road. Steingrímsson expects it to take about two weeks to bring the road into usable condition, but it is uncertain when it will be possible to provide public access. About 10 kilometers of roads have been laid through lava since the eruption cycle began.
Steingrímsson says it took several days to design a new road line. Red-hot lava chunks can still be seen in the material being cleared, but Steingrímsson says that people have gained considerable experience in assessing situations like this.
Jón Haukur Steingrímsson, a geotechnical engineer at Efla.
Takes two weeks
“It is primarily larger blocks that are hot. The longest part of the route is the loose lava bed. It is only this ridge that we are going through now that is high, but behind it, the lava is much smoother and easier to cross.”
He says the road was initially conceived as a work road for transporting material. “Although Grindavíkurvegur Road will be ready, it does not mean that it will immediately open to general traffic. That is another discussion that needs to be had when that time comes.”
