No Toll Increase, For
Now, On The San José - Caldera Highway
The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y
Transportes (MOPT) said that there are no
plans to raise toll rates on the new San
José - Caldera highway, as was hinted to
last week, to avoid traffic congestion
during peak hours.
The vice-ministro de Concessiones, Guillermo
Matamoros, ruled out any increases at this
time, saying that that would occur only as a
last resort and only is requested by the
Autopistas del Sol, the road concessionaire.
"The contract provides for a series of
measures to reduce the waiting times (at the
toll booths) when they are greater than five
minutes and raising fares is one of them,
however, it is not an option we are
evaluating in the medium term", said
Matamoros.
The first weekend of operations, the San
José - Caldera highway was totally
congested, with more than double the
expected traffic using the road, completing
congesting the two toll booths between
Piedades and Santa Ana.
At the La Guacima toll booths, traffic
backed up for hundreds of metres, at Atenas
even worse, forcing toll booth operators to
allow traffic to use the "quick pass" lanes
for manual paying customers, prompting the
anger of "quick pass" users.
When traffic congestion got too heavy at the
General Cañas, the government operated tool
booths became free of charge for short
periods to reduce congestion and now is
permanently free from 7am to 7pm Monday to
Friday and 10am to 1pm on Saturdays.
However, that has never been one of the
measures or options considered by Autopistas
del Sol.
The reason for the congestion is the fact
that the highway was built for a daily
traffic volume of 10.000 vehicles, while
during the first weekend the number of
vehicles surpassed 25.000, a little less
during the second (last) weekend.
Matamoros added that he asking the
concessionaire to develop a contingency plan
to deal with peak hours, especially with the
upcoming festival in Puntarenas and Semana
Santa, a time when Costa Ricans head for the
Pacific coastal resorts and beaches.
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