SANTIAGO DE LOS CABALLEROS.-Various road interventions, especially the construction work on the monorail, have turned the traffic in the city of Santiago into an intolerable chaos, which prevails almost 24 hours a day.
Residents of the Heart City attribute the situation to the lack of signage and alternative access routes, the responsibility of the Trust for the Development of the Mass Transit System of the Dominican Republic (Fitram) and the absence of agents from the General Directorate of Traffic and Land Transportation Safety (Digesett).
For the past two years and seven months, traveling through the areas where these construction projects are taking place has been a nightmare, according to local residents. Another headache for drivers is the roadwork being carried out by municipal authorities and the Ministry of Public Works and Communications, which also creates difficulties in some areas.
Lately it is almost impossible to travel in four-wheeled vehicles on Yapur Dumit Avenue, near La Fuente and the Pekín neighborhood, 27 de Febrero Avenue, from Pueblo Nuevo to the Las Colinas sector, on Circunvalación Avenue, in the vicinity of the free zone, in Cienfuegos, the Cibao Stadium, Las Carreras Avenue, among other important roads.
Traffic jams are turning leaving home into a nightmare. Besides the hours drivers spend stuck in their vehicles, the traffic jams mean higher fuel costs, locals point out.
A journey that normally took fifteen minutes is now longer and more complicated than traveling from Santiago to Santo Domingo.
The president of the National Confederation of Transport Workers (CNTT), Juan Marte, said that the journey from the President Estrella Ureña hospital to the city center took one hour and 38 minutes.
“We understand that the disaster, the chaos, the collapse of traffic and transportation in the country cannot be allowed to continue for another day. It is a situation that is very costly for citizens and transporters due to expenses such as brake pads, tire wear, fuel costs, and, above all, the pollution in large cities, which causes respiratory illnesses,” the union leader explained.
Marte proposed as an urgent measure that should be taken into account by the authorities, and which according to him is applied in Mexico, Bogotá, Chile and other large cities, is to alternate the license plate number in public, private and freight transport.
In that regard, he considered that this measure should be adopted in cities such as Greater Santo Domingo, the National District, San Cristóbal, San Francisco de Macorís, La Vega, Espaillat, Santiago and San Pedro de Macorís, where works such as the monorail, the cable car and the Metro are being built, as well as other road works that obstruct traffic.
“The idea is that one day vehicles with odd-numbered license plates will circulate, and another day those with even-numbered plates,” said Juan Marte, who added that this arrangement could be temporary, until the works are completed, or remain in place if the authorities consider it viable.
He criticized the fact that the country's traffic and transportation disorder is due to the fact that there are about eleven official institutions linked to the sector, but they all work in a scattered manner and without a defined plan.
He said that Intrant, the governing body of the transit system, has been more notable for business scandals than for doing the work that the people expect it to do.
Source: Hoy Newspaper.
