In 2013 a small Island on the African continent announced the construction of a Highway to connect its two main cities.

The announcement of this project could have gone completely unnoticed, especially as it is only 12 and a half kilometres long, but there was one particular feature of this project that caught many people’s attention.

The initial budget was one billion six hundred million dollars ($2,600,000,000.00) and this would be the most expensive highway in the world!

But how can a small island of approximately 850,000 inhabitants afford to build a project of this magnitude?

What is France’s involvement with this work and after almost a decade since its launch?

How is the project progressing?

If you want to know the answers to these questions Read this article to the end Because today we are going to expand our global knowledge about Reunion Island and the world’s most expensive highway.

The History of Reunion Island

Let’s go back in time to learn a little about the history of this small piece of land located in the Indian Ocean. Réunion Island was discovered in 1505 by the Portuguese navigator Pedro Mascarenhas. The newly discovered territory remained without the attention of the discoverers, until in 1638 the French under the command of King Louis 13 took possession of the island, where they settled definitely almost 30 years later, in 1663, except for a period of four years between the years 1800 and 1814, in which the place was occupied by the British Reunion Island and had under the command of the French who even named the place for a time Bonaparte Island.

The two volcanoes

After the Second World War in 1946 it ceased to be a colony and became an Overseas Territory of France along with French Guyana and two other territories, and to understand the reasons behind the construction of the most expensive highway in the world we must understand that the island was formed on two volcanoes, one of them called Píton de Neige or Snow Peak, extinguished about 12 thousand years ago and on it is situated two thirds of the territory of the island.

The other volcano Piton de la Forneza or Furnace Peak is considered one of the most active volcanoes in the world erupting constantly. All this volcanic activity has created a distinctive landscape with many mountains and valleys and as you can imagine it has made it very difficult to get around the island.

Vehicle Transit on Reunion Island

In relation to traffic we also add the fact that this territory has a high number of vehicles per inhabitant, almost one car for every two residents. So many cars in a hilly terrain with few roads has turned traffic into chaos, with enormous traffic jams. The connection between the main cities of the island, Saint-Denis, the administrative capital, and La Possession, the main economic centre where the port is located, is made by a road built at the foot of a cliff where pieces of rock are constantly falling away and hitting the road.

Some Problems on the Road

Since 1980 there have been 20 deaths caused by falling stones on the highway, in addition to the deaths in some cases the landslides caused the closure of the highway for long periods, generating immense damage to the local economy.

Another problem that constantly hits the highway is flooding and during storms the sea waves invade the roadway and cause accidents and stoppages and this incident happens with great frequency. During the storm and cyclone season, on average, the highway has to be closed twice a week due to flooding. Considering that 70,000 vehicles pass through this area every day, it is possible to get an idea of the disruption that each lane closure causes.

Some solutions were thought to solve the problem, one of them foresaw the construction of a dike bordering the highway preventing the sea waves from reaching the road, this proposal intends to stop the flooding but the drivers would still be exposed to falling rocks, not to mention the environmental damage that this construction would cause in one of the richest ecosystems on the planet.

The Solution To The Problems On The Road

The idea that solves all the problems at once was the one chosen: the construction of a highway over the sea, between 50 and 200 metres away from the cliff, high enough for the road to be out of the reach of the waves. This project would have only one small problem: the high cost.

How much would this work cost?

At the time the works were announced, the cost per kilometre of road built was estimated at 133 million dollars and the total construction was expected to cost 1.6 billion dollars. The works effectively began in 2014 and according to the project about 6 and a half km of the highway would be built in two sections of embankments that advance over the sea and the other part would be executed by means of viaducts, one 5 and a half km long and another small viaduct that should connect the two sections of embankment.

Forecast Conclusion of the Highway on the Island

Initial forecast was that the complete runway would be inaugurated in 2020.

In addition to the high costs, a project of this size in this area presents technical and construction challenges. Winds in the region reach an impressive 140 km per hour and waves can reach heights of up to 10 metres.

To make the execution possible it was necessary to assemble the precast concrete structure manufacturing centres in places far away from the installation site and transport them to their final destination. For this purpose a large number of cranes and large cranes were needed as well as transport rafts.

Some Problems and Challenges During Construction

However, despite all the logistical difficulties and the challenges of building piers up to 38 metres high and up to 15 metres deep, the viaduct went ahead and construction progressed according to schedule.

Problems arose with the construction of the embankments, as the government hoped to create a Quarry on the island to remove the rocks needed for the work, but the plan was barred by the courts for environmental reasons.

According to the French courts the removal of rocks could cause landslides and destroy the habitat of many protected species. In a desperate attempt to follow the works the local government asked local farmers to remove rocks from their properties and send them to the construction site. Logically it went wrong and now the government is considering importing stones from other places like the neighbouring islands, Madagascar and Mauritius, in the last case even from the Middle East.

Lack of Money and Criticism of the Project

To compensate for the difficulties caused by the lack of material, the consortium responsible for the execution of the project has already requested an amendment to the contract to the amount of 300 million dollars over the initial price. As with all public works, it has also been criticised by the French media, who call it a car paradise due to the high number of cars per inhabitant.

The main disapproval is the exorbitant amount invested and the questionable need to execute this project. Accusations of corruption are also present, there are accusations against the local government, including accusations that the project was designed to serve vested interests. According to these accusations, government authorities directed the construction of the viaducts to multinational companies and the landfills to local companies as a way to repay alleged aid received in the electoral campaign.

False Inauguration

Seven years after work began, the government has quietly inaugurated the 5,400-metre viaduct, which, according to estimates, has cost one billion dollars. The reason for the discreet inauguration is that so far this work connects the city of Saint-Denis with nowhere. That’s right, without the completion of the sections that need to be built on the embankments, the viaduct is completely useless. As an interim measure, the government is considering building a link between the viaduct and the old road, and at least using what has already been built.

The Final Cost of the Work

After the setbacks, the current forecast is that the so-called Highway of Dreams will only be inaugurated in 2028 and the total costs are already estimated at US$ 2 Billion, exceeding US$ 160 million per kilometre, Just as a comparison, the Rodovia dos Imigrantes Highway located in the state of São Paulo and which was built in the Serra do Mar with great extensions of tunnels and very high bridges cost the equivalent of 476 million dollars, that is, with the money used in the 21 km stretch of the Brazilian highway inaugurated in 2002, it would be possible to build less than 3 km of the French highway, an absurd difference.

The construction of the highway is being financed in large part by the CDC, a French state bank whose purpose is to foster the country’s development and so far nobody knows what direction the work will take because the current president of the region, who inherited the project from the previous administration, said that he will conclude it but without wasting money and not in any way.

And now as always it is your turn you already knew Reunion Island and the most expensive highway project in the world?

Do you believe that this work will be completed or will all the money invested so far be lost?

Leave your opinion in the comments and enrich the debate.

See you next time!