General Cañas highway RE-Opened - August 2012

No major delays reported at scene of ever-growing crater

There were no major delays Monday as traffic passed over yet another set of bailey bridges installed on the General Cañas highway.

Speed there in the eastbound lanes has been reduced to 40 kph as it has been in the westbound lanes where the first set of bailey bridges have been carrying traffic.

Meanwhile, under the old and new bridges, workmen are trying to keep the washout from growing more. That washout is what created the necessity for the bridges.

Traffic was a disaster over the weekend because the eastbound lanes were closed, and a detour was setup through Heredia. But motorists claimed the routes were not well marked, and some ended up far from where they had planned.

The new set of bridges are 36 meters long or about 118 feet. They were installed in what the Consejo Nacional de Vialidad said was record time. The alternative would have been a traffic disaster of major proportions. As it was, the eastbound lanes reopened to traffic at 5 a.m. Monday.

Some 90,000 vehicles pass through the highway each day.

Officials were going to close off the lanes again late Monday night to paint more markings on the pavement. This work was left undone so the spans could be opened for rush hour Monday morning.