New bridge will open in August

PANAMA. The building site of the of Cerro Patacon/Villa Caceres bridge has meant months of enduring stressful traffic lines for drivers.

Finally the company building the bridge, Conalvias S.A. has announced the project will be finished and delivered to the Public Works Ministry at the beginning of August.

Currently the only part missing is the installation of two beams and the construction of the last part of the bridge; the connection between La Paz Avenue and the Tumba Muerto highway.

The price tag for this protect was $37.7 million.

It was supposed to be finished in May but differences between workers and the company and a strike slowed down the construction timetable.

Meanwhile traffic jams are common in the area of La Paz Avenue, where drivers trying to go to the Centenary Bridge sometimes have to wait between 15 to 20 minutes before they can pass through.

On July 8 the workers went on strike after the company building the bridge, Conalvias S.A. failed to pay their wages.

Finally the Ministry of Public Works, Federico Suarez intervened serving as arbitrator between the workers and the company.

The new bridge will help to ease the traffic in the Tumba Muerto and eventually will form part of the road system that will join the El Dorado area with Via Brazil and Balboa Avenue.

The project has been surrounded in controversy, because the Ministry of Public Work had to repossess several houses and businesses, that were close to the construction in order to build the new structure.