Rotondas No Longer Useful, Experts Say
The "rotondas" - the round abouts  - that are part of driving in San José are just out of date and each day cause more traffic jams and becoming more and more dangerous.

At some rotondas like the one at San Sebastián, traffic backs up some 500 metres at peak rush hours as three lanes of eastbound and westbound traffic meet with the two lanes of northbound and southbound traffic.

And there is no end in sight.

The concept of the rotonda was brought to Costa Rica from Mexico some 25 years ago. Transportation experts say that their usefulness to move traffic ended back in 1996. Today, they are nothing more than a nightmare for drivers.

The only changes to the rotondas were made to the Guadalupe and Y Griega intersections as part of project by the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) that began back in 1999.

So far, only the Y Griega rotonda, the rotonda that has five spokes of traffic going in different directsion to Desamparados,  Dos Rios, San José, San Pedro and Escazá, had an overpass constructed a couple of years back.

The San Sebastián and Paso Ancho rotondas are still waiting.

The modifications to the rotondas is now in the hands of the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (CONAVI), the same people who are responsible for filling the potholes on the nation's highways.

Conavi doesn't have a quick answer to the problem as it is concentrated in repairing the existing road network before it can focus on the San José problem.

Mario Chavarría, an engineer at the MOPT, said that the usefulness of a rotonda is based on the volume of traffic, which in San José has been growing at between 5 and 8 per cent per year.

According to MOPT figures, the Alajuela rotonda sees some 64.997 vehicles daily, while at San Sebastián circulate 61.543 and at Paso Ancho 64.753 daily.

The rotondas have become a complete bottleneck for traffic during rush hours and are also using up Tránsito resources as traffic officials have to be constantly keep an eye on things.

It is only by sheer miracle that few traffic accidents and deaths occur at rotondas, as frustrated drivers rush into the rotonda in the hope that the other driver will stop and give way first.