In June 2008 the Ministry of Development opened the Santa Isabel Tunnels, part of the Zaragoza ring road -Z-40- project.

Tunnel operation and maintenance were awarded to MATINSA under a comprehensive upkeep contract in 2007, so MATINSA has had to shoulder responsibility for service at the Santa Isabel Tunnel Control Centre and in-tunnel monitoring.

For the first of these tasks (management of the Control Centre), six console operators and a coordinator were assigned to undergo a period of training and supervised work, timed so that the trainees would emerge as fully qualified operators and the tunnels would be commissioned at the same time. In addition, a monitoring service was set up, equipped with an assistance vehicle capable of reaching the scene of any hypothetical incident within approximately 180 seconds of the incident's detection.

MATINSA felt that it would be perfectly possible to bring on board people with physical disabilities to cover these posts, because physical handicaps were perfectly compatible with the job profile.

At present there are five people with physical disabilities working in the operation and maintenance of the Santa Isabel Tunnels.

Both the dedicated monitoring service and the Control Centre are staffed and ready to act around the clock, 365 days a year.

People with disabilities have real potential, and they ought to be active members of the working world. The trick is to find an occupation that fits their capacities, and MATINSA has decided to support the integration of these professionals into its workforce in positions where their disabilities are irrelevant.