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Friday, January 29th, 2016  |  USD: Buy 531.29 / Sell 543.92
20 years

Without change, condition of Costa Rica’s roadways will continue to worsen, engineers warn

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October 29th, 2014 (InsideCostaRica.com) Engineers with the National Laboratory of Materials and Structural Models (LANAMME), led by engineer Juan Diego Porras, as well as Luis Guillermo Loria of the National Transportation Infrastructure Program (PITRA) are warning that Costa Rica’s road infrastructure will continue to significantly deteriorate in the coming years unless changes are made in the way the country’s road network is maintained and managed.

 

Loria said that the problem is not a lack of economic resources, but rather the need for “long-term strategic management that is independent of the political cycle,” noting that most work and infrastructure planning is currently short-sighted, only taking into consideration a time span of four years, coinciding with the country’s political and election cycle.

 

Loria said the country’s roads would continue to worsen if important decisions are not made immediately, adding that the types and scope of current projects will not substantially improve the state of the road network.

 

The researchers said their warning is based on a probabilistic mathematical model dubbed “IRI” that allows them a degree of confidence in predicting future conditions of the country’s roadways.

 

Worst roads in Central America

 

Costa Rica has the highest fuel prices in Central America but has the worst roads, despite the fact that nearly one-third of the cost of fuel in the country is supposed to be used for road repairs and maintenance, according to a report issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) earlier this year.

 

Costa Rica scored last place in Central America in its Ranking of Availability and Quality of Transport Infrastructure, this despite a heavy 30% tax placed on fuel which is supposed to support repairs and upkeep to the country’s roadways by the National Roads Authority (CONAVI).

 

 

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  • roberto

    No shyte Sherlock! The Fiscalia’s report on La Trocha was due out this month.

  • prdatki

    The Roads are a very good example of sub par materials, and a crooked Government. Fire the top 100 people,running the High Way Dept.

  • Ginger Morris

    YOU are so right. My husband was a civil Engineer for Ashland Oil and Granite. He was the head Regional Project manager for the South. HE said many times…A lot of Contracter here in C.R. don’t know how to put a road down to make it stay. The scrimp on the Oil, they don’t manage the water and they don’t lift up the hatches in the road along with many other things. WE just went to Equador… NOW THEY HAVE THE ROAD AND C.R. NEEDS THEIR HELP. OH yes, the Inspectors are getting paid off to look the other way with SUB STANDARD CONSTRUCTION. CORRUPT, CORRUPT… AND AMERICANS ARE NOT COMING HERE ANY MORE!!!

  • Yeims

    Wow!! My question would be, were the engineers able to figure all this out by themselves, or did they have high-paid consultants too? Costa Rica has always had bad roads, as early as in the 1600′s. They didn’t want good roads then because pirates could land and then arrive to the interior. So it was a long time before they had roads connected to the seaports. In light of this, I would say those persons in charge of the country’s roads have to change first. This might begin with a study of the design conditions of modern cars, and their requirements when it comes to the rubber meeting the road.

  • NorthendFool

    There are several different mixes of asphalt. CR has one entity that purchases all the asphalt that comes here. All is imported. Its the wrong one. Obviously the cheapest. Panama uses a different mix, also put down asphalt HOT. Ive never seen a real road crew here in CR do anything the right way. Unfortunate to say that but the technology and equipment is available. Good used equipment is for sale. Problem is no one at the top wants to budge. This whole place is in a rut and change is almost impossible because no one wants to make waves. All the road money is usually missing in Bri Bri. Its always been a scandal too. What a joke.

    • Yeims

      Yes, speaking of road crews, in all my 35 years of being here, and traveling all over the country several times, and seeing (and stopping to watch ) many road crews, I have never witnessed anyone actually working. There’s usually somebody on a tractor, and the rest stand around leaning on their shovels and watching. I have NEVER seen them actually using a shovel for anything other than to lean on. For years i even carried a camera, just in case, but finally gave up.

  • Michael C

    The same could be said for sidewalks……where they exist!
    In my area, Heredia, the road connecting Heredia to Pista 32 has numerous small bridges, ALL narrow width and “ceda el paso” signs at each one, requiring significant backups during heavy traffic! And some of these bridges are built in an “S” design, making navigation a nightmare for buses and commercial tractor/trailer rigs! A Tico friend told me those bridges were originally build for “los boyeros”, and never improved upon! A pathetic, wasteful and corrupt system indeed!

    • expatin paradise

      The entire road system outside the cities was made for the boyeros. When they first put down asphalt over the dirt roads, they apparently did nothing to create proper foundations. When they repave entire sections of roads, they make the roads progressively more narrow. In many places, the drainage ditches start at the edge of the pavement, often with severe drops. The roads near me are narrow and a patchwork of past repairs,. The road in front of my house is so narrow that opposing traffic can barely squeeze by each other if one is a bus or truck, and it is a numbered route!

      • Michael C

        Ha! Reminds me of Garrison Keillor’s famous line about “Lake Wobegon” – “The little place that time forgot, that the decades cannot improve”

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