Escazú Tool Booths
Closed Until May
As part of the
construction of the
highway to Caldera, the
autopista Próspero
Fernández is being
expanded to six lanes
from the present four
and as a consequence of
the construction work,
the toll booths at
Escazú have been
eliminated and will be
torn down, to pave the
way for a new tool
system.
As of Monday this week,
the toll booths were
shut down completely and
yesterday machinery
began tearing down the
structure.
Passage on the highway
will be toll free until
May next year, when the
new toll booths will be
ready and new toll
system will be in place,
according to the
ministra de Transportes,
Karla González.
The current toll is ˘75
colones for passenger
vehicles (˘100 colones
in the voluntary lanes)
and is paid in cash by
drivers lining up at the
booths.
The new system will use
an electronic payment
system, although a
manual payment system
will be maintained.
The new rates will be
us$0.58 (˘320) for
automobiles, us$1.16
(˘640) for buses,
us$1.45 (˘797) for light
commercial vehicles and
us$3.67 (˘2.020) for
heavy commercial
vehicles. (The colones
rate is based on today's
exchange rate).
Álvaro Muelas, general
manager of the
Autopistas del Sol,
explained that the new
toll booths will include
surveillance cameras and
electronic directional
signs to detect problems
and move traffic easily
through the tolls.
The cost of the new toll
booth system is us$3.6
million dollars and
another us$1.4 million
will be invested in
collection equipment. |
