After approximately five years of planning and a ruling by the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court (Sala IV) in October 2003 that ordered immediate construction of eight pedestrian bridges over Central Valley highways (TT, Nov. 21, 2003; July 2, 2004), construction is under way on two of the bridges, which will cross Autopista General Cañas, from San José to the province of Alajuela.
One bridge is going up near Mall Cariari, and should be finished in late May, while the other, near Residencial Los Arcos in Cariari, will be completed in June, the daily La Nación reported.
Construction of the remaining six bridges will begin in April throughout San José, including two over Próspero Fernández Highway, which connects San José to the western suburb of Santa Ana, and where at least 10 people have died in recent years in front of Multiplaza mall and CIMA Hospital (TT,March 5, 2004).
Meanwhile, residents of Pérez Zeledón, in the country’s Southern Zone, have requested speedy construction of pedestrian bridges in that region, the daily La República reported this week. Thirty-five pedestrians have been killed in the past seven months after an eight-kilometer stretch of the
Inter-American Highwaybetween San Isidro de El General and Palmares, to the south, was expanded from two to five lanes.
