The Minister of Development, Ana Pastor, officially opened two sections of the A8 Cantabrian dual carriageway, which was constructed by FCC: the Pendueles-La Franca sub-section, of the Unquera-Pendueles section; and the Solares-San Vitores sub-section of the Solares-La Encina section.

The official opening act was attended by the President of the Cantabrian Government, Ignacio Diego Palacios, the Managing Director of FCC Construcción, Miguel Jurado, the CEO of FCC Construcción Spain and Portugal, Antonio Garcia–Zarandieta and the Northern Regional Assistant Manager, Santiago Farré Dot.

Pendueles-La Franca sub-section

The officially opened 7.4 kilometre long section forms part of the Pendueles-La Franca sub-section The Unquera-Pendueles section is 11.8 kilometres long and begins close to the locality of Pendueles, near kp-291.7 on highway N-634 and it ends on the Asturian side of the Tina Mayor Estuary near Bustio.

This is a new section of dual carriageway, with independent roadways and a transversal section of two 3.5-metre wide lanes, 2.5-metre outer hard shoulder, 1-metre inner hard shoulder and 1-metre verges, with a variable central reservation width of between 4.0 and 22.5 metres.

It is designed for a project speed of 100 kph, with the exception of a 600-metre long section around kp-4+900 where this parameter is set at 92.1 kph. The minimum plan curve radius is 445 metres and maximum slope is 3.5%.

The following structures are worthy of mention: the 171-metre Arroyo Novales viaduct; the Buelna viaducts 1 and 2, consisting of two parallel structures, 33.5 and 35 metres long; the 260-metre long viaduct over the River Cabra; the 162-metre long River Ahíjo viaduct; the 141-metre Bustio viaduct; and the Santiuste Tunnel, made up of two independent tubes, the left roadway is 365 metres long and the right is 375 metres.

Solares-San Vitores sub-section

The officially opened section of the A8 Solares–La Encina dual carriageway is on sub-section III, between the San Vitores junction and the 2.5-kilometre long connection dual carriageway to Santander S-10, at the Solares-San Vitores junction.

The sub-section between the San Vitores junction makes use of the existing N-634 highway, which is doubled.

These doubling works specifically consisted of conditioning the route, remodelling of the Solares junction and the construction of the San Vitores junction.

The trunk road is 2.1 kilometres long and the junction branches and replacement highways are 4.6 kilometres.

The project included the means for environmental integration, such as planting and hydro-seeding on slopes, junctions and central reservations, together with archaeological tracking, protection of the hydrological system and water barriers in urban areas.

The putting into service of the new A8 sections means significant improvements in driving comfort, speed and safety.