Construction Of New Pedestrian Walkway Announced
Though no contractor has been named, work will begin within the next months to convert Avenida 4 (parallel road to Avenida 2 on the south side of downtown San José) to a "bulevar" - pedestrian boulevard, similar to Avenida Central.

The announcement was made yesterday jointly by authorities of the Municipalidad de San José and the Ministerio de la Vivienda y Asentamientos Humanos. The boulevard will be named "Paseo de la Unión Europea".

The work is expected to cost between ¢900 million and ¢1.8 billion colones (us$1.7 and us$3.4 million dollars), of which the European Union will foot half of the bill and the rest paid for by the Municipalidad de San José.

On hand to for the ceremony was the Director General for Exterior Relations for the European Union, Eneko Landaburu.

The pedestrian boulevard will extend some 12 blocks, beginning from the La Soledad church on the east to the Hospital San Juan de Dios on the west. The boulevard will be almost twice the length of the Avenida Central walkway. The boulevard will have two branches, one on Called 2 and the other by the Teatro nacional, that connects to the current walkways.

The work is part of the Municipalidad de San José plan to revitalize and repopulate the downtown area and named "San José Posible". The Paseo de la Unión Europea is only the first stage in the municipality's plans.