SECURING THE FRANCE - ITALY ALPINE CONNECTION

The Rochaille passage, on the RD 900 road, which connects France and Italy via the Ubaye valley in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, is one of the most sensitive road routes in terms of safety. It is a major link between France and Italy via the Col de Larche (Maddalena Pass). The danger of rockfalls that could cut off the road is well established and, a few years ago, has already caused the complete isolation of certain municipalities as well as the closure of this access route to Italy. Beyond the safety of people and property, this situation has a significant economic impact on access to ski resorts, on the organisation of major media events, and on truck traffic towards Italy. Securing this road had become essential.

Ever in pursuit of innovation, Maccaferri has created HELLOMAC, an intelligent impact alert system. HELLOMAC is a cutting-edge solution that leverages the IoT (Internet of Things) and sensor technology to detect events such as impacts, detachments and slope deformations on installed structures. This system can be installed even in remote areas, making it possible to alert the affected communities in real time.

In order to address the project owner's requirements, HELLOMAC devices were installed on the new barriers supplied by France Maccaferri as well as on those already in place since 2019.

In the event of an impact, several scenarios were studied: some trigger a light signal and an alarm on a temporary basis, others on a permanent basis, depending on which line of rockfall barriers is affected. In all situations where an impact is recorded, an SMS and an email are sent to the local operator/manager indicating which cable was activated (impact at SEL or MEL level), in order to trigger the appropriate response.

The La Rochaille site is the first French project to incorporate this intelligent alert system. This project joins Maccaferri's many other projects featuring HELLOMAC smart sensor technology.