Autopista General Cañas closed AGAIN - November 1

JUST A THOUGHT:
With ALL the $$$, hassle and inconvenience to the PEOPLE of Costa Rica and time they've already wasted putting into this bridge, does anyone else think it might be time Costa Rica calls in and INVESTS in a panel of "experts" in this field that are NOT located in Costa Rica and can NOT potentially be "bought off"/bribed to accept someone's product in which is SUB-STANDARD - to ANALYZE the products, the employees and what they're doing?????

That bridge on the Autopista General Cañas 

is being closed for repairs AGAIN
November 1, 2012

Transport officials closed the westbound lanes of the Autopista General Cañas overnight so that workmen could install a metal plate over missing concrete. This is the so called platina bridge that has been immortalized in song, YouTube and jest. youtube.com/watch?v=SwV5xSAE-qs youtube.com/watch?v=EnXi4uzcICg The bridge spans the Río Virilla. This is just a temporary fix. The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad has been applying major fixes to the span without satisfactory results for 3 years. Traffic police were sending vehicles on detours from 10pm Wednesday night. The bridges was supposed to be open again by 5am today.

This is the place where the concrete is crumbling and the metal rebars are being exposed. The problems began when the metal along an expansion joint became loose. That was how the word platina, meaning "little plate" came into use. Contractors fixed that joint several times, but the metal continued to become loose. Even a major refurbishing of the bridge did not last long. The concrete that is crumbing has been applied recently. The possibility remains that nighttime work may continue if contractors cannot get the metal to remain in place.

SOURCE:  AMCostaRica.com

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