I found a recent article in the Costa Rican national newspaper that discussed the current state of the “Bumpy Road” north of Dominical. It was so detailed and specific with date projections that I thought it might be a benefit to readers of my blog to translate and paraphrase it here. My analysis should be unique enough that I haven’t asked permission from La Nacion, but the attribution is inherent in the above disclosure. Their website is www.nacion.com. (Click here for the smaller English version.)
The article was dated Wednesday October 19, 2008: “The minister of Public Works and Transportation, Karla Gonzales, declared before neighbors of Quepos ‘In October of 2009, the Southern Coastal Highway (la Costanera Sur) will be ready’”
It was interesting to find this article when I did because I was sitting in my favorite Sushi restaurant in San José, when I found the article. I had to come up the coast since the Pan American route had been experiencing periodic shut downs due to landslides. I don’t like driving up the coast primarily due to the 25 mile stretch between Dominical and Quepos. It is hard on the car and my temperament.
Getting to Costa Rica’s southern zone has been a big reason why it has been one of the last areas of Costa Rica to get developed and become “touristy”. So the question of “when are they going to pave the road between Dominical and Quepos” has been a regular feature of life here with visitors and prospective investors planning their next visit, or even their move to the area.
Jack Ewing of Hacienda Baru has a pat answer to the question, which he has heard over the last 20 years or so: “when I see the equipment out there on the road, laying the pavement, I’ll then tell you when I think it’ll be paved”. Jack has an article saved from 15 or so years ago that states that construction on the highway will begin “next year”. So we have all been a bit guarded about making projections.
This article has some qualities to it that make me think that perhaps the end is in sight. The article continues “Ms. Gonzales made (the above) promise with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias as a witness of honor at the inauguration of 3 of 8 major bridges of the Costanera Sur.
The bridges have arguably been the primary impediment to getting this final link in the Costanera paved. There are some that would say that politics were involved, but I have no way of knowing if that’s in fact the case. Rumors and reports have swirled about over the years of the projects budget being set aside and then mysteriously disappearing, in fact, this particular rumor claims that his happened twice.
Some say that the powers that be on the northern end of the Bumpy Road pulled strings to keep the link from being improved so that tourists would not want to go any further south thus supporting the local tourism market there in Quepos and Manuel Antonio. Who knows.
The cost of the bridges is quantifiable and when considered, compelling. Keep in mind that Costa Rica has been a rather poor, “third world” country up until recent years.
Starting on the north end of the Bumpy Road, here are the eight major bridges and their costs in USD:
1. Puente en Parrita - $3.7 million, length – 170 meters
2. Puente in Paquita – $2.8 million, length – 113 meters
3. Puente in Naranjo - $2.8 million, length – 198 meters
4. Puente en Savegre - $2.2 million, length – 94 meters
5. Puente en Portalón - $1.6 million, length – 90 meters
6. Puente en Matapalo - $1 million, length – 60 meters
7. Puente en Hatillo Nuevo - $2.2 million, length 120 meters
8. Puente en Hatillo Viejo - $1.7 million, length 90 meters
Building the road then is something of a “connect the dots” scenario. They put the bridges in, then pave the stretches in between.
In the meantime, what’s it like to drive until that promised completion date of October 2009? Well, it is bumpy still, and will likely continue on in this condition until we get closer to completion time and the paving actually starts. There were some stretches of fresh gravel, and one stretch where we actually passed a grader that were uncommonly smooth, but these type of conditions are temporary, especially during rainy season.
The major change that we witnessed on our drive was the installation of a traffic light on one of the old one lane rail-road-track bridges. I didn’t take pay attention to which of the above noted bridges this was, but there was the nearly completed new bridge to our left, but traffic was still flowing over the old one lane bridge. Typical to style in this land of low law enforcement, this “improvement” was ignored and we spent some time backed up on a bridge behind a string of cars and buses that had passed on through the red light. The guys on the other side had the green light, and they weren’t going to budge, so we sat there, unable to move for about 20 minutes while cooler minds negotiated with the green light guys to make way or we’d end up spending the night out there on that bridge.
So there you have it. A date, and an eyewitness testimony to having seen the equipment out there working on the road. Lets see what things look like in October of 2009.
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