Intrant takes control of traffic light system after perceived contractor’s sabotage

Jorge Luis Polanco, Milton Morrison and Francisco Osoria de la Cruz / Diario Libre

It was about time. The Presidency announced that the National Institute of Transit and Land Transportation (Intrant) took decisive action to secure the nation’s traffic light system following a serious disruption caused by the contracted company. The incident, which occurred between Wednesday 28 and Friday, 30 August 2024, affecting dozens of traffic lights on key avenues, has prompted a thorough investigation and a significant overhaul of the traffic light system’s management.

Intrant officials revealed that Transcore Latam SRL, the company contracted to modernize and manage the Greater Santo Domingo’s traffic light system, had made unauthorized changes to the system’s devices and regulators on the night of Tuesday, 27 August 2024. These alterations, carried out without Intrant’s approval, were in direct violation of their contractual agreement.

People are asking why was Transcore Latam providing the service, when supposedly the company had been banned from being a supplier to the government in May 2023 after the irregularities in the contracting made headlines? The incident resulted in the cancelation of Hugo Beras as director of Intrant.

As reported by the Presidency, in a shocking turn of events, Transcore Latam SRL abruptly terminated all services to Intrant at 10:44pm on the same day, notifying the agency through an internal chat. The Presidency reported that the irresponsible and untimely action triggered widespread traffic chaos, initially affecting 29 critical intersections and later expanding to 55 intersections across the National District.

To prevent a complete breakdown of the traffic system, Intrant swiftly intervened. In the early hours of August 29th, Intrant technicians, working alongside law enforcement, took control of six optic fiber communication nodes that had been exclusively managed by Transcore. Over the next 48 hours, they worked tirelessly to restore the system’s functionality, which had been decentralized and operated solely by the contractor. The network has since been recovered and is now under state control.

While the system has been restored, technical challenges remain and are being addressed. Nevertheless, Intrant’s prompt response prevented a far more catastrophic traffic collapse.

Mariasela Alvarez explained on her Esta Noche con Mariasela talk show that the service outages coincide with the presentation of findings of an audit on the service presented by the Comptroller’s Office.

3 September 2024

Dolores Vicioso

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Intrant takes control of traffic light system after perceived contractor’s sabotage