Lagarto Bridge Repair
To Finished By Saturday, One Lane Closed For
Now
The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y
Transportes (MOPT) said on Wednesday that
all the repair work will be completed on the
Largaro river bridge on the Interamericana
norte by Saturday. For the time being, one
lane is closed and Tránsito (traffic)
officials are on the scene to regulate
passage over the bridge, which is expected
to generate massive traffic congestion.
Pedro Castro, viceministro of the MOPT,
explained that the work includes repairing
portions of the metal structure damaged from
the fire and include replacing the bridges
deck with a new concrete surface.
Castro was clear that the accident on Monday
(See
story)
that claimed two lives, when two heavy
trucks collided, one of which was a tanker
truck filled with 26.000 litres of diesel
fuel that caught fire, did not damage the
integral structure of the bridge and the
bridge is safe for vehicular traffic.
In the meantime, the MOPT is piecing
together the event of the tragic accident,
taking into account eye witness testimony,
to determine what really happened.
For now, the hypothesis is that a passenger
vehicle swerved to avoid a pothole on the
bridge, causing the heavy truck behind it to
apply its brakes, hitting the passenger
vehicle, swerving onto oncoming traffic,
colliding with the tanker truck that was
travelling in the opposite direction.
In addition, officials of the Ministerio de
Ambiente, Energía y Telecomunicaciones (Minaet)
are on the scene evaluating the
environmental damage caused by the diesel
fire and reports that MOPT officials just
swept debris from accident off the bridge
and onto the river below, instead of picking
it up and hauling it away.
The accident was one of three major separate
accidents between Monday and Tuesday that
claimed a total of 7 lives.
In the first month of 2010, a total of 27
people lost their life on the nation's
roads, down from the 34 deaths in January
2009.
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