Traffic in La
Uruca and Santa Ana A Complete Mess On
Saturday
The closure of the autopista General Cañas
from the Juan Pablo II bridge in La Uruca to
the Virilla bridge on the San Jose -
Alajuela direction, caused a nightmare for
drivers, adding up to 120 minutes of
travel time what normally takes less than 5
minutes on the autopista.
Traffic at the Juan Pablo II bridge was
detoured onto La Uruca on the road to
Heredia, through La Lagunilla and back on
the autopista by the Plaza Cariari.
Traffic backed up all the way to the Sabana
park.
Many drivers decided to avoid La Uruca
completley and opted for the round about of
Santa Ana to San Antonio de Belen.
All was well until past the Guachipelin exit
when traffic bottlenecked all the way past
Lindora and just past the Texaco station.
A normal trip from Multiplaza to the Marriot
San Jose takes, during normal traffic
congestion, not more than 20 minutes.
Yesterday, it took more than an hour in the
morning and 90 minutes in the afternoon.
What made it all worse are the big rigs that
were forced onto the alternate roads and
having to negotiate narrow roads and turns,
made worse by the traffic congestion.
At the Texaco station in Santa Ana, heavy
trucks used the centre lane used for left
turns, as their own private lanes, causing
even more bottlenecks as the road converged
to two lanes before crossing into Belen.
The director of Tránsito, Germán Marín, said
that his officers did their best to keep
traffic moving.
The General Cañas between the Juan Pablo II
and Virilla bridges was converted into a
long playground as youths used the unused
road for skateboarding and riding bicycles.
The same is expected today and until 6am
Monday when the autopista re-opens.
The closure of the General Cañas is to allow
work crews to repair two key bridges on the
all important highway, as the bridges are
suffering from wear and tear and the lack of
preventive maintenance.
The Virilla bridge has had its holes patched
with metal plates. The weekend work will
include pouring concrete to firm up the
structure. At the Juan Pablo, the work
includes repairing a huge hole that formed
on the right lane.
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