The Ministry of Public Works is working hard to finish the Duarte Highway Km 9 road distributor works by January 2024. The Duarte Highway renovations are a priority for the Abinader administration, but the works have proceeded slowly.
The Remodeling and Readaptation of the Entrance to the Capital City through Kilometer 9 of the Duarte Highway Project seeks to end the traffic jams at that point, especially in the section that includes John F. Kennedy and Luperón Avenue.
The project contemplates adding four lanes in each direction to the Duarte Highway expanding the intersection from six to 14 lanes. An estimated 120,000 vehicles commute through that intersection every day. The Ministry of Public Works is spending RD$1.5 billion to expand the intersection.
Roberto Herrera Polanco, Deputy Minister of Supervision and Inspection of the Ministry of Public Works, explained, as reported in El Dia: “Originally, this work was scheduled for December of this year (2023), but due to some inconveniences that have been constant in some projects, such as expropriations, delays have occurred that are being overcome. We project completing the project in January.”
The government has yet to legally compensate the permanence of vendors who have taken over the public space for more than 20 years to complete that process through the Comptroller’s Office of the Republic, specifically the peddlers located in the northwest quadrant.
The road project includes a new pedestrian bridge to be located in front of the María Montez station of the Santo Domingo Metro.
The project, according to Herrera, will not only widen the Av. John F. Kennedy stretch, but will take the Av. Luperón slope from 4 to 6 lanes, where the “bottleneck” happens. The work has a central bridge, which will be replaced or moved in east-west direction.
Because transportation is a strategic service, the Conatra bus terminal will not be removed in this phase.
The traffic distributor or clover at kilometer 9 is part of a comprehensive road development plan that involves new interventions. Other actions encompass the Plaza de la Bandera where two lanes will be added in a north-south direction and the intersection of the so-called “hot corner” or Isabel Aguiar. Currently, at Kilometer 9, road contractors are working on retaining walls and removing electrical poles and sidewalks.
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El Dia
19 October 2023