General Cañas
Westbound Completely Closed Again This
Weekend
The bridge over the river Virilla on the
autopista General Cañas continues to be a
headache for motorists daily as repair after
repair and constant closures, including a
complete closure of the highway, fails to
solve the problem.
This will be the second complete closure of
the autopista in less than 15 days.
The closure will be from the Juan Pablo II
to the La Castella (300 metres west of the
Virilla).
During this past week, the Consejo Nacional
de Vialidad (Conavi), has been closing the
autopista at night and several morning hours
on a couple of occasions, as work crews
continue attempt to make a permanent repair
to the bridge.
The last complete closure of the autopista
occurred the weekend of July 18, when both
the Virilla and the Juan Pablo II bridges
were closed to westbound traffic, causing
massive traffic congestion on the alternate
routes of through Heredia and Santa Ana.
Delays experienced by drivers on Saturday,
July 18, was to up to three hours.
The work of the July 18 weekend on the
bridge failed within 48 hours of the
re-opening of the autopista.
Conavi officials say the high volume of
traffic, especially of heavy vehicles and
the vibration caused the metal plate to come
loose. To repair the bridge properly a beam
must be placed on the underside of the
bridge and that requires a complete closure
of both westbound lanes, according to the
Conavi.
According to Alejandro Molina, director of
the Conavi, the work this weekend will be
sufficient to repair the bridge properly.
The Policía de Tránsito and transport
officials are recommending that drivers use
the alternate routes to travel from San José
to Alajuela.
However, based on the experience of the last
closure, it is best to avoid the area
completely and travel to Alajuela if and
only absolutely necessary, like going to the
airport to meet a flight or leave the
country, in which case allow an extra 2 or 3
hours to your travel time on Saturday and 1
to 2 on Sunday.
The fotos highlights the problem steel plate
on the Virilla bridge. |
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