At the point where the bridge over the Chavon dam once stood, the government and the private sector have facilitated a pedestrian crossing to be used while the bridge is being restored.
The government has said that a temporary bridge over the Chavon dam will be in place within 10 days, while the permanent structure will not be ready until December. Public Works Minister Manuel de Jesus Perez announced over the weekend that it will take three months to restore the permanent bridge over the collapsed Chavon River dam.
The ministry is working on opening several other access roads to permit transport between La Romana-Higuey, El Seibo-Higuey and Miches-Nisibon-Higuey, said Perez.
The government was able to open a landlink through Sabana el Cuey to reconnect the East Coast provinces to Santo Domingo. The route obliges travelers to head north to Hato Mayor from San Pedro de Macoris, then east to El Seibo, and crossing the Chavon River at that northern point. From there, one must continue on to Higuey and Punta Cana. A schedule has been established for the route, with cargo trucks slated to use the crossing at night and in the early morning hours. El Caribe newspaper reports on how the chaos caused there by an excess number of vehicles attempting to make the crossing caused it to be closed again. Petroleum refinery president, Aristides Fernandez Zucco, said that 12 tank trucks were able to deliver 60,000 gallons of fuel to La Altagracia province by that route. He said that a steel cable has been anchored to transport fuel exclusively. The recent fuel scarcities have doubled the price of fuel in the eastern provinces cut off from normal supplies.