Road Cave In Closes
Interamericana Sur For A
Week
According to the
Ministerio de Obras
Públicas y Transportes (MOPT),
the Interamericana Sur
(San José - Pérez
Zeledón) will be closed
for a week as work crews
continue with the clean
up and repairs of the
highway following
Tropical Storm Alma.
The highways has some 30
kilometres of debris and
damage in the area of
the Cerro de la Muerte,
where almost a 1.000
people where trapped for
almost 40 hours before
the road could be
cleared to allow
vehicles to move through
the area.
And although the MOPT
and the Comisión
Nacional de Emergencias
(CNE) machinery was able
to open passage to
evacuate the trapped,
kilometre 120 has a 30
metre cave in on the
road surface.
The vice-minister of the
MOPT, Pedro Castro, said
that there is absolutely
no passage through the
area and that a Bailey
bridge - a portable
pre-fabricated truss
bridge - has to be
erected to allow
temporary movement.
While the road repairs
are being made, visitors
to and from the Southern
Zone will have to use
the Costanera - Orotina
- Jacó - Quepos -
Dominical route to get
to and from points like
Pérez Zeledón, Golfito
and the Panama border of
Paso Canaos.
The Orotina - Quepos
route is already
congested with regular
traffic and the Quepos -
Dominical route, a 40
kilometre route that is
under construction and a
nightmare at best,
taking up to 2 hours in
good weather, is the
only route available
until the Interamericana
is opened again.
Karla González, the
minister of the MOPT, is
asking motorists to use
patience when going
through the area,
especially worrisome to
the minister is that
there is still a lot of
water in the soil and
more mudslides could
occurr in the coming
days, making the traffic
situation through the
area even worse.
The president of the CNE,
Daniel Gallardo, added
that 80% of the people
trapped on Thursday and
Friday in the Cerro de
la Muerte have been
evacuated, the remaining
are truckers who do not
want to abandon their
vehicles and will have
to wait for the road
repairs before they can
start moving again.
Gallardo said that water
and food has been sent
to them, as well as
medical attention in the
event it is required. |
