ACCIONA has brought into service the 11.7-kilometer Melide - Palas de Rei interchange (Galicia) section of the A-54 highway between Lugo and Santiago de Compostela. Work began in July 2017, with a budget of €100 million.

Currently, of the 94 kilometers that make up the road, the sections from Lugo to Palas de Rei and from Arzúa to Santiago are in operation, and with the opening of this section, 16.4 kilometers remain to be completed between the towns of Melide and Arzúa.

The route has two main interchanges, Melide Sur, which connects to the AC-840 regional road, and Remonde, which connects the expressway to the N-547 highway via a local road.

The section also includes a total of 18 structures, including six viaducts over the Furelos, Seco and Pambre Rivers; two over the Vilar and San Xulian streams, and a final viaduct over the “Serra do Careón” Site of Community Important (SCI), to avoid impacting an area where the “santolina melidensis” plant is found, which is considered a protected species.

ACCIONA has also built seven overpasses, four underpasses and a 270-meter wall at the Melide Sur interchange.

The most remarkable of these structures is the Pambre Viaduct, which has a maximum height of 32.85 meters and a length of 977 meters, making it the longest in the province of Lugo. With a single deck and 16 spans (distance between the supporting points of the viaduct), it currently holds the Spanish record for the length of a span built by self-shoring (a type of special formwork that stands by itself without the need for external supports).

In addition, the planned section runs along the Pilgrim’s Way to Santiago de Compostela, which has influenced the design of certain aspects of the new highway such as the length and layout of the Pambre viaduct.