Traffic Chaos A Daily
Occurrence
Every day traffic chaos
around San José and
other major areas of the
Gran Area Metropolitana
(GAM) takes over
people's lives. Some of
the worst examples are
La Uruca, the road to
Heredia, the Fernando
Prospero and the General
Cañas.
A trip from the airport
into La Uruca on any
weekday can take more
than an hour between
7:00am and 8:30am, 15
minutes at other times.
Then there is the La
Uruca intersection, that
depending on where you
are headed, it can take
forever.
The Fernando Prospero
back up from the Cima
Hospital to the
Circunvalación. The
present of Tránsito
officials (traffic
police) at the Escazú
intersection doesn't
make things any better.
The same is now common
at night. According to
Tránsito authorities,
71.905 vehicles pass
through the Escazú toll
booth daily
Avenida 10 and Paseo
Colon, the main
thoroughfares into
downtown San José, are
constant with a heavy
flow of vehicles, the
same is true on Avenida
1 leading from San José
to points west. On the
east side of town it is
no better.
The problem is just too
many vehicles,
collapsing the city's
road network.
The promise of
installing "intelligent"
traffic lights seems to
have had no effect to
ease the traffic.
Today there are more
than 1.2 million
vehicles registered in
the country and the
roads were not designed
for that amount.
The vice-minister of
Transportes, Viviana
Martín, explained it
well - there has been a
great absense in road
planning, while the
importation of vehicles
has been excessive.
The vice-minister added
that there have been
studies on which roads
could be widened to
handle the increased
traffic, however, feels
public transportation,
including the operation
of the train, as the
best to curb congestion,
but failed to be
specific on details and
timing.
The worst of the
nightmare is having to
go to downtown San José.
The distance between the
east end of the Sabana
Park to the downtown
core is only 3
kilometres. A trip
during morning (7:00am
to 9:00am) and afternoon
(4:00pm to 6:00pm) can
take more than 45
minutes. At other times
during the day it is not
much better.
Leaving San José at the
wrong time can be just
as long, if not worse.
The controls on
regulating traffic by
restricting 20% of the
registered on different
weekdays based on the
last number of the
license plate, has had
little effect. Or at
least it seems, as
traffic is no better
than when the peak hour
restrictions of the
downtown core were in
effect.
However, La Uruca, west
of San José, can be
called the worst.
Traffic on the General
Cañas heading west to
the airport bottlenecks
at the Virilla bridge,
as three lanes of
traffic must merge to
the two lane bridge.
Then there is the
entrance to Heredia,
where an average of
44.000 vehicles transit
daily.
All this traffic chaos
has resulted in
impotence and rage.
The evidence is the
increasing number of
insults that are now
being hurled out the
window by one driver to
the other, others seen
praying to get to work
on time to avoid yet
another berating by the
boss.
Others can have been
more creative, reading
the daily newspaper or
magazine while sitting
in traffic, others
making more and more use
of their iPods and
cellular phones to play
their favourite tunes to
pass the time away in
traffic. |
