Anyone trying to visit the eastern end of the Dominican Republic is faced with the task of having to drive through Greater Santo Domingo. The city of some two or three million presents colossal traffic jams, nearing gridlock at peak hours, and can temper any desire to travel to the East. Even farmers fear the traffic in the city. Their products wilt in the heat of the day as trucks and containers are held up in traffic. This is the overwhelming reason for the construction of the Santo Domingo Beltway (called “Circunvalación” in Spanish). Currently, some 67,000 vehicles drive into Greater Santo Domingo each day.
Reporters from the Listín Diario inspected the work on the new beltway that will enable drivers to avoid city traffic. According to one of the constructors, about US$163 million is being spent on Section 2B of the roadway, from the road to Villa Mella east to the northeastern toll road that leads to Samaná. A good portion of the beltway is already finished from Haina to the Duarte Highway and then further around the north to the Villa Mella road. The roadway construction is part of the DR Highway Trust.
According to the Public Works Minister Ramón Antonio Pepín, the entire 70 kilometers will be covered in about 30 minutes. Other expected benefits of the new road are easier transport of petroleum products from the Haina refinery; faster transportation of food products to and from the east; the streets of Santo Domingo and the National District will no longer need to be repaved so frequently because of the abuse to them by heavy trucks. He said that supermarket chains can locate their distribution centers nearby, with greater ease of receiving and dispatching merchandise. The beltway is expected to generate new real estate values as these areas benefit from better connectivity.
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Listin Diario
21 October 2019