San Sebastian Rotonda To Have An Overpass
In the coming weeks construction is to begin on the overpass at the San Sebastián rotonda, one of the busiest round abouts on the Circunvalación - rind road - on the south side of San José.

The rotonda sees some 50.000 vehicles a day as five intersections meet, from those travelling to and from downtown San José, across the city in an east-west direction and to and from the Hipermas shopping centre and other retail locations located along the side of the Circunvalación.

The plan for the construction of an overpass similar to that at the Desamparados/Dos Rios rotonda were announced last year and the trees and other material from the centre of the rotonda were cleared long ago as work then came to a sudden hault.

However, Pedro Castro, vice-minister of Obras Pública (Public Workds) said yesterday that the "five year old" project will soon be brough back to life.

One of the systems considered by the Ministerio de Obras Pública y Transportes (MOPT) - public works and transportation minister - was to signalize the intersection, which would have cost much less than building an overpass. However, traffic studies indicate that the signalization the intersection with traffic lights would not be a solution to moving traffic throuhg the busy intersection.

MOPT officials are looking to begin construction of the overpass before the end of this year, which will see a overpass move traffic in the east-west direction and an underpass move traffic in the north-south direction, with exits to the local side streets.

The cost of the project has been doubled because of the delays. The cost of erecting traffic lights at the intersection would set back the MOPT an estimated us$1 million dollars, while the cost of constructing an overpass is estimated at us$3.5 million dollars. However, like many public projects in Costa Rica, that final bill for the construction could be as much as double that.

Castro added that one of the major reasons for the delay was to appease residents of the area who became concerned on how pedestrians would cross the intersection. A pedestrian bridge will also be built to accommodate the concern.

However, before that can happen, the Contraloría General de la República (Comptroller's office) has to approve the pedestrian bridge contract and allow both contractors to work at the same time on the intersection.

The overpass contract was awarded to the firm Sánchez Carvajal with a time frame of nine months from start to finish.

The other intersections on the Circunvalación to continue with rotondas is the Alajuelita, Paso Ancho and Zapote. All other intersections on the Circunvalación, save the Desamparados/Dos Rio, which continues with a rotonda under the overpass, have traffic lights.