Access
Closure Could Mean 150 Lost Jobs, Says Santa Ana
Mayor
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Parking Space at Liberia Airport Expanded
Access Closure Could Mean 150
Lost Jobs, Says Santa Ana
Mayor
For
some 20 years commercial centres along the
autopista Próspero Fernández between Santa
Ana and Escazú have popped up and flourished
due to the increased traffic and commercial
activity of the area. Now, that the
Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT)
has deemed the majority of those accesses
illegal, many face closure and layoff of
employees.
On Thursday the MOPT decided to close 19
illegal accesses of the autopista as it
cleans up the highway ready for the
completion of the widening of the San Jose -
Santa Ana section by May, that will connect
to the Caldera section by next year.
A group of affected residents, with the
support of the mayor of Santa Ana, yesterday
visited the offices of the Consejo Nacional
de Concesiones (CNC) in search of answers.
Guillermo Matamoros, viceministro de
Concesiones, was firm that the illegal
accesses have to remain closed, although his
department is willing to re-open some of
them following a study and proper access is
built according to requirements.
The commercial centre like were the Machu
Pichu restaurant and Rover car sales, as
well as the centre where the Best Brands is
located, are jus two affected by the
closures.
The illegal accesses have been a constant
problem for drivers and traffic officials
and the cause of many accidents along the
Santa Ana - Escazú section of the highway,
especially at the Guachipelin bridge, where
accidents and near accidents in front of
Pequeño Mundo are common. That intersection
is getting a complete makeover with ramps
and widening of the underpass.
"20 businesses have been affected and in
this time of crisis some 150 people may be
losing their jobs in the coming days", said
Gerardo Oviedo, the mayor of Santa Ana.
Oviedo said that in addition to the lost
jobs one has to had another 500 families
without access to the Río Oro community.,
not to say anything of the condominium along
the highway that will lose their value if
the closures remain permanent.
Many of the businesses and residences can be
accessed from the highway can be accessed by
other routes, like in Río Oro, but not for
the Machu Pichu, whose access is only off
the highway.
What angers these residents and businesses
is that the MOPT permitted the access to
these developments built in the last 10
years or less and now, with a wave of the
wand, shuts them out.
According to the CNC, the affected
businesses are:
- Laboratorios Raven
- Pequeño Mundo
- Alto de las Paloma
- Restaurante Machu Pichu
- Land Rover
- Condominios Río Oro
- Mauco
- Forum
- El Club Hípico Caraña
- Abopac
- Calle Cañas
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