Bessons Tunnel, Segarra-Garrigues Canal, Section V

Along its full length of 85 km, the canal constitutes the backbone of the works that make up the Segarra-Garrigues System, the aim of which is to transform 75,000 ha in the province of Lleida into irrigable land.

The initial stage of the project includes the construction of the canal over the last 22.27 km, including all of the necessary hydraulic works for the proper control of the canal. In addition, two intakes were designed for two irrigation sectors: 8 and 9. This project does not include a study of the conveyance system necessary for the irrigation reservoirs. In the initial phase of the project, the owner reported the need to include the construction of a new intake in the project plan.

- 13.3 km were built with a trapezoidal cross-section, with a bottom width of 3.00 m and a top width of 12.60 m, and lined with 15-cm thick HM-25 concrete with polypropylene fibre.

- 5.3 km of tunnel construction: the 300-m long Serranía Tunnel was excavated using conventional methods (the New Austrian Method) and the 4,990-m long Bessons Tunnel was excavated with an open shield tunnel boring machine. Both tunnels were lined using a trolley.

- 2 km bottom-poured (executed with a double concrete pipe with metal covering, with an internal diameter of 2,400 mm)

- 1.7 km distributed across 3 aqueducts (1 of them to cross over the AP-2 Highway).