He said that according to studies, congestion in the National District generates estimated annual losses of RD$10.368 billion in productivity and RD$10.150 billion in fuel.
SANTO DOMINGO - Regarding RD Se Mueve, the plan launched by the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (Intrant) last June seeking to decongest traffic in the Dominican capital, architect Marcos Martínez warned that the traffic crisis in Greater Santo Domingo cannot be resolved with specific operations or isolated measures.
“The National District should no longer be treated as a closed administrative unit. Its functioning depends on, and in turn conditions, municipalities such as Santo Domingo East, North, West, Los Alcarrizos, and Boca Chica,” stated the former director of Urban Planning for Santo Domingo East and West.
The expert warned about the direct impact of traffic congestion on real estate market values. “Areas with residential or commercial potential lose competitiveness when access becomes a disadvantage due to congestion and poor public transportation. This affects developers, residents, businesses, and the financial system that supports these assets.”.
The architect called for a technical debate on urban and territorial management, moving beyond superficial criticism or celebration of recent operations. “We acknowledge any effort to address traffic chaos, but we warn that solutions cannot be reactive; they must be strategic and structural,” he stated.
He also explained that the National District, as the country's institutional and economic center, can no longer operate in isolation, as its functioning depends directly on the surrounding municipalities such as Santo Domingo East, North, West, Los Alcarrizos, and Boca Chica. Every day, thousands of citizens travel from these municipalities to the National District to work, study, or access services, creating territorial tensions that overwhelm the existing road capacity, especially during peak hours.
Marcos Martínez. (External source).
According to Martínez, while the debate in the media and on social networks is legitimate, technical support is needed to develop effective proposals. In this regard, he emphasized the need to adopt internationally applied methodological tools, such as the Colombian BIT-PASE model, which analyzes the territory as a system of relationships between the fundamental variables: Population, Environment, Society, and Economy (PASE).
This model incorporates the TEI (Tensions and Interactions of Actions in the Territory) approach, which allows for the identification of conflicts between variables and the projection of integrated intervention scenarios through analysis matrices. "The goal is to generate proposals for balance in the face of critical moments of convergence of urban activities in time and space," he stated.
He also noted that technical data reveals that congestion in the National District generates estimated annual losses of RD$10.368 billion in productivity and RD$10.150 billion in fuel, representing approximately 30% of monthly gasoline consumption. Furthermore, each worker loses an average of 90 minutes daily commuting, equivalent to more than 40 workdays per year.
Given this scenario, the architect argues that an estimated investment of RD$600 million for an intelligent transit system, public-private partnerships, and road safety education would be significantly less than the annual cost of inaction, which exceeds RD$20 billion.
“Traffic problems won’t be solved with sporadic operations. Cities are living, complex, and interconnected systems, and their management requires sustained strategies and decisions based on technical analysis,” he concluded.
Finally, the architect urged authorities and private stakeholders to plan with a forward-looking vision and an inter-municipal approach. Among the key recommendations, he highlighted:
- Listen to the inter-municipal dynamics.
- Population and environmental planning (BIT-PASE).
- Articulate instruments such as territorial planning plans (POT) and metropolitan plans.
- To coordinate action between government, academia, the private sector, and citizens.
