Bridge Closing Causes Traffic Chaos
Repairs to the bridge at the "water monument" was the cause of chaos on on the circunvalación, Sabate Oeste, Pavas and Rohrmoser during yesterday morning and afternoon rush hours. The same will be repeated this morning with the hope that the bridge work will be finished by not later than 3pm this afternoon.

Drivers accustomed to their route for destinations to Heredia and Alajuela found roads blocked and detours through La Sabana and Pavas bumper to bumper on the only two roads that by-pass the bridge.

Traffic coming from Hatillo and Escazú areas was detoured to Pavas and Rohrmoser to the Plaza Mayor were they could go north on the old road that leads into the valley and comes out at the Hospital Mexico or detoured east to the Pitahya to get to the General Cañas autopista.

The closing of the bridge had been announced on Friday and construction crews worked through the weekend to complete the repairs. The heavy rain of Saturday and Sunday stalled work, especially the laying of concrete. However, it seemed that most drivers were not aware of the road closing.

According to Juan Manuel Delgado, Director de Tránsito (transit police), the work should be finished by early this afternoon, when the bridge will be re-opened and traffic back to normal.

Many steaming drivers were interviewed live by the local television news stations and were very critical of the Ministerio de Obras Pública y Tránsito (MOPT) for not doing the work at night and for not planning ahead the traffic chaos they were part of.

Delgado assures that the work could not be done at night. He said the bridge repair work was complicated and would have been a safety issue to work during the night. In addition, the heavy rain over the weekend hampeted the work, not allowing for the pouring and drying of the concreted used to effect the repairs.

35.000 vehicles cross over the bridge each day. The location does not give drivers many alternative routes and transit police didn't have many options for detouring traffic. Using the news media, transit officials are asking for drivers to avoid the area, using alternate routes to get to Alajuela and Heredia.