Conclusion of A1 35 years ago “shortened” the country and revolutionized mobility

A A1 was completed on September 13, 1991, with the opening of the section between Torres Novas and Condeixa-a-Nova, completing the continuous link between Lisbon and Porto, 30 years after the opening of the first section, between the capital and Vila Franca de Xira.

In statements to Lusa, Joaquim Mendes, one of the engineers of Brisa responsible at the time for the work, recalled the importance of the enterprise for mobility in the country.

“ Before the highways it took us a day to get there [to the North]. I'd leave in the morning to get there by the end of the day or even the day before. Then the country cut short. It is no longer 800 kilometers long and now 300 or 400”, he observed.

Today at the age of 83 and retired for about two decades, Joaquim Mendes stressed that, in addition to Lisbon and Porto, the conclusion of the A1 allowed for the approximation and dynamicization of cities such as Santarém, Leiria, Coimbra and Aveiro, “contributing to a new reality in the movement of people and goods”.

About the construction of this last section of A1, between Torres Novas (district of Santarém) and Condeixa-a-Nova (district of Coimbra), the engineer stressed that the realization “required a detailed technical preparation”, due to the different characteristics of the crossed land.

“There were mountain areas with rock, more stable soils and clay areas that could not be used in the construction because they were sensitive to water,” he described.

The undertaking forced “to respond to unforeseen situations”, including the discovery of mines and caves in the area of Fatima (Council of Ourém) and the creation of ecological passages in the mountains of Aire and Candeeiros.

“There are always some unforeseen events, some situations that escape us, when we do polling campaigns, but there were not exactly background surprises,” said the expert.

There was also a major social and economic impact on local populations during the interventions: “There are thousands of workers, to have lunch, dinner and sleep, and therefore there is a connection of these people with civil society.”

This work also had some “caricates episodes”, such as that of a lady who came to lie in front of the machines to try to prevent the progress of the work.

“ It was a very easy thing to solve. He went to tell the lady: be patient, but we have to advance ", said Joaquim Mendes, noting that there was generally a good understanding between the population and the workers of the undertaking.

Asked about the day that marked the completion of the work, the engineer stressed that it was marked with a ceremony, “mainly political”, and a lunch with the workers of the company.

The conclusion of this last section of A1 also had a “special meaning” for Brisa herself, which went from a phase of reduced activity to a period of strong expansion of the road network.

“ It was the turn of page, from a phase of crisis to a phase of great projection at the national level ", said Joaquim Mendes, remembering that the company moved from about 200 kilometers of motorway to a network that, a few years later, was already around the thousand kilometers.

He keeps few material memories of the work, since a fire in a shipyard where he worked destroyed documents, photographs and other objects he kept.

In a note, Brisa states that 35 years after the completion of the A1, this motorway remains one of the main national road axes, with about 300 kilometres between Lisbon and Porto and a daily average traffic that in 2025 reached 42,885 vehicles.

“ In three and a half decades, A1’s annual average traffic more than doubled, and today it is 2.6 times higher than that recorded in 1991, when the continuous link between Lisbon and Porto was completed,” the company said.