[R-sig-Geo] Unable to perform intersection operations with vectors

[Coyo Tepe]

Platform and versions
Windows 64 bit
R version 4.0.2 (2020-06-22) -- "Taking Off Again"
Rstudio Version 1.3.959
rgdal: 1.5-12 / gdal: 3.0.4
rgeos version: 0.5-3, (SVN revision 634)
GEOS runtime version: 3.8.0-CAPI-1.13.1
Linking to sp version: 1.4-2
Polygon checking: TRUE

Problem
We are trying to perform an intersection operation between two vector
layers in shapefile format and we get an error:

Warning message:
In proj4string(x) : CRS object has comment, which is lost in output

Below you can have a REPEX:
´´
library(rgdal)
library(raster)
library(rgeos)

 #layer a
bbox_a<-c(497555,500000,137000,138000)
extent_a<-extent(bbox_a)
extent_a
capa_a<-as(extent_a,'SpatialPolygons') #creamos un objeto tipo SpatialPolygons
crs(capa_a)<- "+proj=utm +zone=16 +datum=WGS84 +units=m +no_defs"
crs(capa_a)
shapefile(capa_a,paste("capa_a_re",sep="/"),overwrite=TRUE)
plot(capa_a,col="green") #plot(capa_a,col="green")

 #layer b
bbox_b<-c(497995,500050,137100,138100)
extent_b<-extent(bbox_b)
extent_b
capa_b<-as(extent_b,'SpatialPolygons') #creamos un objeto tipo SpatialPolygons
crs(capa_b)<- "+proj=utm +zone=16 +datum=WGS84 +units=m +no_defs"
crs(capa_b)
shapefile(capa_b,paste("capa_b_re",sep="/"),overwrite=TRUE)
plot(capa_b,add=T)

 #buffer
b_buf<-buffer(capa_b,width=50)
plot(b_buf,add=T) #plot(b_buf,add=T,col="blue")

#intersect
b_intersect<-intersect(capa_a,b_buf)

#Warning messages:
# 1: In proj4string(x) : CRS object has comment, which is lost in output
# 2: In proj4string(y) : CRS object has comment, which is lost in output

´´´

We have found in the following link:

https://gis.stackexchange.com/questions/364667/r-4-0-1-not-sure-i-understand-this-message-warning-message-in-proj4stringx

some comment about this problem: “This is not related to R 4.0.1 but
to rgdal 1.5-8 and the migration to gdal 3 and proj 6. This is a very
long and complex process that impact hundreds maybe thouthands of
packages. All the packages are not yet up-to-date with what is coming.
As a regular user you do not need to pay too much attention on these
warnings but should be aware of what is coming in the geospatial
world.

You can have a look to ?rgdal::set_thin_PROJ6_warnings() to eliminate
those warnings.”

However, this warning for us is a problem since it does not allow us
to perform the intersection operation between the 2 layers.

What we have tried is to pass our R and rgdal to a previous version
(Version rgdal 1.4-8) and R version 3.6.1 (2019-07-05) - "Action of
the Toes" but we would like to know if this is the way to go or there
other options.

Currently we have managed to get the 3.6.1 R version and but we have
trouble passing to the Rgdal version 1.4-8, hoping that this version
does not have these problems with the warning that we can not perform
the operation of intersection.

Regarding how to install an older rgdal version we found an interesting link

(https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51749860/installing-rgdal-backdate-rgdal-version-versus-update-gdal-version-and-how)
that explains how to do it with the following commands:

require(devtools)
install_version("rgdal", version="1.4-8")
But we get the following error:
ERROR: lazy loading failed for package 'rgdal'
* removing 'C:/Users/pepe/Documents/R/win-library/3.6/rgdal'
* restoring previous 'C:/Users/pepe/Documents/R/win-library/3.6/rgdal'
Error: Failed to install 'unknown package' from URL:
  (converted from warning) installation of
package ‘C:/Users/pepe /AppData/Local/Temp/RtmpqCxtfw/remotes26c7f616614/rgdal’
had non-zero exit status

Thank you for your help,