Santa Ana - Belen Route Closed to Heavy Duty Traffic Between 8am and 6pm
Today, heavy trucks of more than 18 tonnes will be restricted from circulating route of Santa Ana - Belen between 6am and 8:30pm, in an effort to reduce traffic congestion in the area that has grown by leaps and bounds in the last couple of years.

The road is the only between Santa Ana and Belen and traffic over the last couple of years has increases as well the development of commercial centres and homes in the area

A government decree, published in the official publication La Gaceta on August 16, will allow the Policía de Tránsito to monitor the route and fine offending truckers.

Signs have been posted along the route and the engineering department of the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) says the restrictions will increase traffic flow by at least 18%.

Naturally, truckers are upset at the restrictions, motivating the president of the Asociación de Traileros y Afines, Luis Coto, to send a letter to the MOPT minister, Karla González, saying that the move is "illegical" as the area is heavy industrial.

The association feels that before they take the trucks off the road, the MOPT should look for other solutions to the problem.

The route is an important one for the transport of prime material to the number of industrial factors in the area as well as the transport of finished products.

Coto said that the more "logical" thing would have been to urge light vehicles to alternate routes instead of the trucks. Coto added that the past government has not had the will nor the vision to create an road infrastructure like it has been done in many other countries.

Notwithstanding, beginning today, Tránsito will be in full force to regulate truck traffic on the route.