SANTO DOMINGO.- The Minister of Public Works and Communications, Deligne Ascención, announced this Tuesday a series of projects that will expedite traffic in the Northeast area of the National District, encompassing kilometer 13 of the Duarte Highway and the Republic of Colombia Avenue.
The official specified that in the "2024 Attack Plan", the road solution of the Republic of Colombia avenue will be worked on the intersection with the Monumental, Colombia-Jacobo Majluta, Republic of Colombia with Carlos Pérez Ricart (formerly Sol Poniente), and the roundabout of the Technological Institute of Santo Domingo (INTEC).
He noted that, with an investment exceeding $130 million, the government of President Luis Abinader, through the renegotiation of Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI (Aerodom), has allocated part of those funds to address a range of transit problems.
“The solutions that have been considered here and whose execution will begin in just a few days, start from the Republic of Colombia at kilometer 13 of the Duarte highway, a specific improvement to the Monumental Avenue, since the Jacobo Majluta ends right at the Colombia, which, in a kind of T, where four operational return lanes will be made, and where these are placed, there will be a widening of the road and a series of closures along it,” he said.
The official said that Monumental Avenue will have four lanes in each direction, facilitating right turns, one in each direction. He also noted that this solution has been in development for almost two years and that micro-simulations have been conducted using real-world data to estimate the behavior and duration of the solutions to be implemented throughout the area.
“This is a partial solution that will last you between 10 and 15 years at a certain level of service. These levels are measured and rated; A is the optimal level, and then, as they go from C, they worsen, so that at this point, in the first 10 years, you can achieve a level B service.”.
He added that the return lanes between Monumental Avenue and the Republic of Colombia will consist of closing illegal crossings and the new ones will provide greater efficiency.
Between Jacobo Majluta and Colombia, the solution will consist of a distributor or grade-separated crossing that will pass underneath; the one coming from Villa Mella will pass under a tunnel that will connect it near the Intec roundabout.
Those coming from the West will continue above ground level, and this solution will directly impact the intersection of La Colombia and Carlos Pérez Ricart, since part of these two roads can be channeled through the tunnel.
He said that at each turn there will be an expansion of lanes and, for people who are going to carry out local activities, improvements to right turns will be enabled for the ease of their movement.
Improvements and renovations will be made to the INTEC roundabout to enhance the services on the road.
He explained that the real estate development that has taken place in that entire area, in many of these urbanizations, openings were improvised in the traffic islands to facilitate and channel the traffic, and this is part of what causes the congestion.
The consortium of companies that will be in charge of the works to be carried out are: Sallan Isis Companies (international engineering), Rizek Group, Moya Group, while the supervision company will be Tecno America (directed by Pedro Delgado Malagón).
“All of these are authorized and certified contracts, and the process for delivering progress reports, defining camps, making progress with landowners where the first interventions will take place, and the expropriation of places will be minimal,” he added.
He explained that the project is scheduled to take three years, but that in the first year, specific improvements will be made, and when these are completed, they will have an effect on the entire area.
He pointed out that the avenue was built during one of the governments of former President Joaquín Balaguer, but it only had four lanes in both directions and subsequent governments did not foresee the growth of this area, which is experiencing normal growth towards the National District.
He said that since the Republic of Colombia with Carlos Pérez Ricart (formerly Sol Poniente), all the middle-class urbanization areas that have developed in that area over the last 20 years produce this congestion during the morning rush hour and in the afternoon when traffic changes direction.
Cover photo: Money.
