General Cañas Gets Presidential Seal of Disapproval

Presidenta Laura Chinchilla gave the autopista General Cañas, the busiest highway in Costa Rica, the seal of disapproval.



The visit Saturday morning was to inspect the work to repair the sinkhole that sent the Central Valley in total vehicular chaos last Tuesday.

Accompanied by Luis Llach, the Ministro de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT), the Presidenta said collapse was due to the lack of maintenance. Chinchilla blamed the company that has the concession to maintain the autopista.

Both the Presidenta and the MOPT minister avoided referring to the time it will take to repair the damage caused by the broken water pipe, saying only that the road will be fully re-opened as soon as possible.

Experts say it will take at least three weeks to replace the broken pipe and restore the road surface. However, others in the transport ministry are confident that the work will be done in less than two weeks, possibly within 10 days.

In the meantime, two Bailey structures have been erected to move two lanes of westbound traffic, while work crews work underneath to make the repairs.

Hampering the work progress is the rain, although work continues and the suspensions are only temporary, like that of five hours on Saturday, to wait for the rain to pass.

The Presidenta said that they will take appropriate action so that the road will be operating back to normal as soon as possible.