Escazú Pedestrian Bridge
Complete, But Few
Pedestrians Make Use
The pedestrian bridge in
Escazú, located in front
of the CIMA hospital, is
ready. However,
pedestrians still prefer
to dash across the busy
highway which has one of
the fastest moving
traffic in the country.
The lack of pedestrian
bridges is the reason
for many dying on our
roads and despite the
erection of fences to
deter pedestrians from
crossing moving traffic,
many still do,
preferring to risk their
lives than walk the
extra few metres to use
the pedestrian bridges.
The Ministerio de Obras
Públicas Transportes (MOPT)
has erected several new
pedestrian bridges over
the last couple of years
along the General Cañas,
the Florencio Castillo
and Fernando Prospero,
in addition to
pedestrian bridges along
Paseo Colon and in front
of the Parque La Sabana
and the Circunvalación.
However, pedestrians
dashing across the busy
highway is still common.
For instance, the MOPT
has had to repeatedly
repair the fence located
on the median in front
of the Hospital México
as pedestrians
continually to cut
through the fence and
make the mad dash across
six lanes of high speed
traffic rather than use
the pedestrian bridge.
The new bridge in Escazú
took months longer that
had been planned and the
second bridge a
kilometre away in front
of the Multiplaza is
still some time away
from completion, as
construction work on the
pedestrian bridge
stopped months ago and
no sign of restarting
the work is evident.
Authorities identified
the problem and began
building pedestrian
bridges on the highways
in Alajuela, Cartago,
Escazú and the
Circunvalación.
The objective was to
give pedestrians a way
to cross the highways
safely and reduce the
mortality rate.
However, a new problem
has crept up: where
there are pedestrian
bridges, traffic is
moving faster, even
though there are sill
pedestrians who prefer
to take the risk.
Currently there are no
sanctions for
pedestrians who dash
across a busy highway
and refuse to use the
pedestrian bridge at the
crossing point.
A solution to the
problem being discussed
by Tránsito (traffic)
authorities is to place
Tránsito officials in
the area of each bridge.
However, the Policía de
Tránsito is already
understaffed and
stretched to the limit
that such a solution,
though well intentioned,
may never become a
reality.
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