New Traffic Sign Goes Blank
It is lights out for the new traffic information sign installed at the eastern edge of the La Sabana park, near the León Cortés, at the entrance to Paseo Colón. The sign failed to illuminate only after a month of its installation.

The objective of this and three other signs are to inform traffic of what is expected ahead. The Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes installed the signs in hopes of moving traffic better, especially in the cases traffic jams due to accidents or other situations.

It appears that the "sofwer" - software - has a glitch and darkened the sign. Mario Chavarría, subdirector de Ingeniería at the MOPT, said yesterday that the cause of the glitch is still unknown and is waiting for Senex, the company that installed the sign, to effect repairs.

Chavarría said a bug in the software is jumbling the messages, the reason for turning the sign off while waiting for it to be repaired.

Currently the messages on the sign are changed manually, however, once the new traffic control centre is ready, it will be synchronized with the new traffic light system and controlled from the centre with messages relative to the changing traffic conditions.

The other signs will be installed on Ruta 32 (San José to Limón), in Guadalupe, and La Uruca, all high traffic points.

Each sign costs ¢21 million colones (us$40.000 dollars) in a contract awarded by the Consejo de Seguridad Vial to Semex, according to Chavarría.