New look Amador Causeway ready in May

 
1,515Views 4Comments Posted 02/02/2016

WORK on the widening of the  Amador Causeway, is 75% complete and  it should be open and providing smoother traffic flow in May.

Estela de la Guardia, director of the Office of Special Projects of the Ministry of Public Works (MOP), said the four-kilometer project includes nine roundabouts and four viewpoints reports La Prensa.

The  expansion will feature a 2.5-meter bicycle path and a pedestrian area which changed the original concept of the work

The design, hired during the administration of Ricardo Martinelli, did not contemplate the construction of the bike path on the side of the bay, but it was included without increasing the project cost.

Improvements to the area that is used for fishing were also made.

De la Guardia  said that roundabouts allow easier return traffic flow, as people will not have to drive to the end of the road, , to return to the city center.

The , enlargement will have more than 110 parking lots along the way. Currently, about 800 vehicles travel on the Causeway every hour

Three viewpoints close to parking areas will be located in the area facing  the Bay of Panama, and one in the segment that overlooks the Panama Canal.

In addition to the roundabouts and viewpoints, the project includes the construction of 7 500 square meters  of parks  in the area before reaching Flamenco Island.

Area businesses  expect the work completed by the date agreed in the contract, as the flow of people has fallen due to the movement of trucks, while the metal fence along the road blocks the view of the sea and reduces the attraction of the area.

Trucks carrying the  one million cubic meters of fill for the project  took a toll on the current road, which  in some areas has sunk.

In the original contract the repair of the road, built in 1913. With material from the digging of the Panama Canal  was not included, so the MOP has prepared  studies to determine which areas should be rehabilitated.

The president of the Road Commission of the Panamanian Society of Engineers and Architects (SPIA) Arnulfo Ho, said the authorities should have anticipated that the project would cause damage to the existing road and repairs should have been in the current contract reports La Prensa.

"It is clear that this road, which is over 100 years old, was not designed to withstand the passage of trucks ," he said.