QCOSTARICA – If you think traffic between Heredia and La Uruca (San Jose) couldn’t get any worse, you ‘thunked’ wrong.
The major problem with the congestion for traffic making their way to and from the Jardines de Recuerdo, in La Valencia (Heredia) and the Pozuela factory, in La Uruca (San Jose), is the bridge over the Virilla river. (This is a different bridge, not the ‘platina’, that runs over the same river)
The situation for traffic headed to Heredia is a nightmare all day, worse in the late afternoons. In the mornings for San Jose bound traffic.
The solution is around the corner, but, drivers will have to arm themselves with more patience than usual during the 300 days of clean up and re-construction, that begins on October 29.
The head of the Policia de Transito (Traffic Police), Mario Calderón, said that they are coordinating efforts with the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (Cosevi) and the Spanish construction company, Constructora Pirenaica S.A., (Copisa), to minimize impact on traffic through the area.
Calderon said that officers will be posted at La Valencia and La Uruca to monitor and control traffic and the company has agreed to move machinery during evening hours and weekends, when volume of traffic is lower.
The road is a main artery for traffic between Heredia and San Jose.
Transit authorities recommend avoiding the area if at all possible, using alternates or time-shifting.
Alternate routes from the south side is through Barreal de Heredia (where there is a problem with one of the Bailey structures) accessed from La Castella off the General Cañas; the west from Belen (Firestone factory); and Alajuela by the airport. On the northeast, access is through Santo Domingo, from the Ruta 32.
The project that includes cleaning up of the area, demolition of the existing bridge and construction of two new two-lane bridges and expropriation of some 50 properties, comes at a cost of US$8.6 million dollars.
To keep the traffic moving, a new two-lane bridge will be first built, followed by a demolition of the existing and the building of a new second two-lane bridge.
