El Metro de Panamá detalló que la construcción de la Línea 3 cuenta con un avance del 75%. Aunque aún no se conoce una fecha para la terminación de la...
- 06/09/2008 02:00
PANAMA.The controversial project that will join the city with the Centennial Bridge has finally begun, after months of negotiations betw...
PANAMA.The controversial project that will join the city with the Centennial Bridge has finally begun, after months of negotiations between the residents of Villa Cáceres near the Ricardo J. Alfaro way and the Ministry of Public Works (Ministerio de Obras Públicas, MOP).
The Special Projects Director of the MOP, Carlos Ho, who is also in charge of the Coastal Strip construction, said that the vehicular flyover is part of the program that the government is putting in place to help solve the traffic problems in the Capital City. Twenty eight houses were demolished around the outskirts of the Ricardo J. Alfaro Avenue, which caused a great deal of distress to their owners who had to find new places to live on a short notice, in a volatile real estate market where property prices increase on a daily basis.
After nearly a year of negotiations, the residents arrived at an agreement with the MOP, which bought the houses at a fair price.
The properties’ demolition started in June and that phase was completed by the beginning of August.
Ho said that the vehicular bridge of Patacon Hill (Cerro Patacon), located at the intersection between La Paz Avenue in Villa Cáceres and the Ricardo J. Alfaro Avenue has been designed to solve the traffic problem in that area. Around 55,000 vehicles a day use the road, creating a bottleneck during rush hour.
The design will look like a four leaf clover, which will allow traffic to move freely from Villa Cáceres to the Ricardo J. Alfaro and from there to El Dorado and San Miguelito. A bridge will connect the Ricardo J. Alfaro to the Technological University giving the traffic easy access towards the Centennial Bridge, which in turn will open a quicker way to Arraiján, La Chorrera and the interior.
The structure will have four lanes that will resolve the gridlock that develops daily in that area especially, during the mornings and afternoons when the traffic hardly moves and the roads resemble an overcrowded parking lot. Cerro Patacon Bridge is part of the Transmovil program to improve public transportation in the city.
Around 14 percent of the project has been completed and it is expected to be finished by May 2009. The flyover is also expected to solve problems at the entrance of San Isidro.
Another project at Via Brazil and Calle 50 will start soon to help create a ring road around the city.
Lo Nuevo
