Hoy newspaper reports on the almost two-hour traffic jams during peak times on Sunday afternoon, returning to Santo Domingo from the East. President Hipolito Mejia got a taste of the bottleneck when returning from his Juan Dolio vacation home last Sunday. To skirt the bottleneck, his caravan moved into the opposite lane, causing even more problems for travellers. The bottlenecks usually start before the toll booth and continue all the way into Santo Domingo for those headed west after 4 pm. Technicians told Hoy newspaper that the problem is that the government started building the two-lane expansion of the highway on both sides at the same time. Work is advancing at a slow pace.
