Drivers Need to Have Patience in Face of Increasing Traffic Congestion, Transport Minister Says
Patience is the only thing drivers can arm themselves in the face of the daily traffic chaos that is caused by the high number of vehicles, construction and accidents.

The worst of the areas affected are the downtwon core where construction of the new boulevard on Avenida 4 on the south side of downtown has caused tremendous traffic jams as drivers try to get around the confusion and density of vehicles.

Add to that the changes in the bus stops because of the construction and the number of buses that now have to make their stops on alternate roads, roads that were already congested, now even more with the added traffic.

The vice minister of Transportes, Viviana Martín, said that the failure of co-ordination by the Municipalidad de San José and the Consejo de Transporte Público (CTP) is the reason. "In reality the failure to co-ordinate the traffic movement is a direct result of the chaos", said vice-ministe Martín.

Other bottlenecks in the San José area are the La Uruca area leading to Heredia and San Pedro around the San Pedro mall to Curridabat.

La Uruca from the autopista General Cañas leading to the Rio Virilla bridge is total nightmare on any given day, as the highly transited autopista is reduced to one lane as traffic moving to Hereida backs up due to volume at the traffic lights at the Pozuela intersection.

On some days traffic on the General Cañas backs up to the Hotel Coribici and the trip to Hereida, which should take only 15 to 10 minutes, can be over an hour.

Traffic around the San Pedro mall to Curribat and Tres Rios are another point of frustration for drivers, as sheer volume through the rotunda and the commercial strip that leads to Plaza de Sol makes the short trip exasperating.

Similar situations are evident on all major routes in and around San José, including the circunvalación, the ring road on the south side of San José, that was designed to take the load off the downtwon streets.

In the case of Avenida 4 construction the fingerpointing, to no relief of drivers, has begun. The Municipality says that it has been co-ordinating the avoiding of traffic congestion with the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) for almost a year.

The MOPT says that the person in charge of the meetings left the MOPT and no one was appointed as a replacement. At the CTP officials say they are still studying the bus stops with the idea of making a final decision on the permanent stops.

"We are calling on everyone to have pacience and that drivers look for an alternated route", said vice-minister Martín.