Toll Booth Donations To Pay for Pedestrian Overpasses
Drivers leaving San José by highway are faced with a toll booth near the Airport and near Multiplaza to the west and Tres Rios to the east, where the Ministerio de Obras Pública y Transported (MOPT) charges ¢75 colones for each passenger vehicle.

Drivers can also choose to pay ¢100 colones at the express lane and since no change is provided, thereby donating ¢25 colones.

That donation, according to figures released by the MOPT means and extra ¢400 million colones (us$835.000) a month for the government coffers.

The concept is to use the money to improve and maintain road conditions on the route it is collected. But, where does the money actually go?

According to Alejandro Molina, president of del Consejo Nacional de Vialidad (CONAVI) - part of the MOPT - the money is collected by CONAVI and "we are instrumentalizing the administrative process to be able use firm up the use of the resource...", he explained.

In an easier explanation of where the money will be going, the public functionary explained his comments by saying that the almost us$10 million dollars a year it collects at the three toll booths will be partly used to build pedestrian overpasses on the highways.

Molina said that next week the CONAVI will be signing a contract for a pedestrian bridge at Plaza Cariari and Mall Internacional in Alajuela, two points where there is a large number of pedestrian traffic crossing the busy thoroughfares. Following will be other pedestrian bridges for  a total of eight.

Wednesday was the latest death to occur at the Cariari location, when a two truck struck a pedestrian who was crossing the busy highway.

Molina also added that the CONAVI has been studying the possibility of charging a flat rate of ¢100 colones to all passenger vehicles at the toll booths and eliminating the current price and donation structure. However, before the new price can be put in place, the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (ARESEP) - the government body that regulates the price of public services - needs to study the plan and approve it.