Ten Days To Fix Mother of Huecos!
• Baileys to temporarily move traffic
• Tourists should allow more time to get to the airport

The mother of huecos (potholes, technically a sinkhole) on the autopista General Cañas will affect vehicular traffic in the Central Valley for at least ten days, the time the ministerio de Obras Publicas y Transportes (MOPT) says it needs to make the permanent repairs.


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In the meantime, the MOPT will be installing two Bailey structures to move traffic, one of which was installed overnight, in addition to creating a reversible lane, taking up one eastbound lane to allow the movement of buses at in the meantime.

The pothole, created from a clogged water drain pipe which the AyA (water and sewer utility) will be replacing, caused vehicular chaos in the Central Valley.

Affected also were tourists who were late in getting to the airport for their flight home. TACA airlines reported that at least 20 passengers did not board their respective flights on Wednesday.

On the alternate routes, especially the San José - Caldera, traffic backed up at the Escazú tolls to the Santa Ana intersection, and then moved even slower through Lindora and Belen back onto the General Cañas in the area of the Intel plant. The trip that usually takes 15-20 minutes from the Sabana to the airport, took more than 2 hours yesterday morning.

In the afternoon the situation as even worse, as traffic that normally moved past the airport avoiding the Lindora/Belen option decided for La Guacima and Siquiares exits, where the four lane road becomes two. The ruta 27 westbound from Santa Ana was one long parking lot.

The Heredia - La Uruca to La Valencia and onto Cariari - fared no better.

Meanwhile, back at the pothole, MOPT engineers decided to install two Bailey bridges as a temporary measure to move westbound traffic through the area while work crews work underneath to repair the road. Traffic will be monitored and speeds will be reduced through the Bailey structures.

One of the two Baileys was installed overnight and the MOPT expects to fully re-open the autopista by Friday.