Answer to Panamas traffic chaos is planning – Minister
Panama’s Public Works (MOP) Minister Federico Suarez has the answer to the city’s expanding traffic chaos – planning and organization.
After months of growing jams, including the latest at the Bridge of the Americas where work was stopped to allow the transport authority (ATTT) and the MOP to come up with a solution, Suarez says said that the "jams" can be minimized, provided there is planning, organization and communication. Other government spokespersons have warned motorists to brace themselves for at least another two hears of “driver hell”.
To accomplish this, Suarez said that currently there is "a strategy of planning, engineering, construction, traffic and implementation, accompanied by a communication strategy." On the program Face to Face, on Channel 4 , he said the strategy "is in process," while indicating the government bureaucracy delayed the execution times of these strategies.
On the other hand, the minister added that all works being carried out "need to be done." He said that further full and partial closures will be announced in a timely manner, which might come as a surprise to some motorists who find themselves driving around in circles at night as fresh unannounced street closures and diversions pop up. Currently, the MOP, as part of the new road network, is working on la Avenida de los Mártires, vía Omar Torrijos, el Paseo Andrews, el camino a la avenida La Amistad,the axis of Brazil and Israel, Calle 50, and Ricardo J. Transístmica Alfaro (Tumba Muerto). Improvements are also being made on the road from San Miguelito Domingo Diaz to the Tocumen International Airport.
Added to this is the work of the Metro subway stations and the rehabilitation and improvement of the Bridge of the Americas, Suarez admitted that "not everyone is organized and that there should be better communication" in this matter. The beginning of this work on January 3 -caused traffic chaos. As a result, it was decided that the work will be developed in stages, he said.
