14 years waiting for the Beltway
Some two months ago the Minister of Public Works and Communications, Gonzalo Castillo announced the resumption of construction work on the North Beltway and other road projects of the city with an investment of US$350 million. Castillo said that the projects are at the "stage of budget and engineering studies, in order to later sign the final letter of understanding and officially start this set of roadway solutions for the city of Santiago in May."
He said that the solution to traffic problems in the city included the construction of overpasses, ecological parks, improvements of the ecological avenue and other major roads. Other projects to be constructed are the completion of the Central Park, the installations for the National Police, and the Pontezuela Ecological Corridor, which will be 7.5 kilometers long, as well as the underpass at Estrella Sadhala Avenue at the corner of Argentina Avenue, which will be 500 meters long. In addition, the plan included a 640-meter overpass at the intersection of Estrella Sadhala and Bartolome Colon avenues, which goes to the Buena Vista sector and another at the intersection of Estrella Sadhala with Padre de las Casas avenues, which will be 441 meters long.
But businesspeople, freight haulers and bus drivers from the Cibao region are complaining the work has yet to begin. As reported in Diario Libre, they say they have spent 14 years waiting for the completion of the Northern Beltway around the city.
The road will eventually cover 24 kilometers from the Duarte Highway to the Santiago-Navarrete Highway. The project was begun in May 1999, during the first Fernandez administration, with a budget of more than RD$2 billion. The president of the Fetranreno transport union, Gervasio de la Rosa, is calling on the government to fulfill its promise to finish the avenue, after pointing out that the roadway is one of the projects that is most anticipated by the transportation sector and drivers in the Cibao.