The tender for “a historic project” was announced this morning by the Public Works authorities and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). This is the Los Chorros project, which consists of the intervention of three sections of the Pan-American highway, to improve connectivity, boost the country’s economy, and provide road safety for drivers.
The first section is the expansion to eight lanes of 4.79 kilometers of the highway, from Monseñor Romero Boulevard to the station, where section two of the project begins. The second part is the design on the south side of the highway up to the intersection with the access to the municipality of Colón. The third section is the construction of the Francisco Morazán viaduct, which will have an extension of approximately 1 kilometer. “It is the longest and most complex bridge that has been built in the country’s history, and it will be built with eight lanes,” announced the Minister of Public Works, Romeo Rodríguez.
According to Rodríguez, the total investment in the project amounts to $300 million and includes construction, supervision, and land acquisition, among other things. According to said state portfolio, after intense efforts, financing was achieved through CABEI of $245,824,129. In addition, another part of the financing is provided by the Korean government.
Minister Romeo Rodríguez stressed that they identified two main problems on the Los Chorros highway, one is vehicular traffic, and the other was the risk of landslides. In Cristóbal and Amanda alone, there were 60 landslides.
«The project will have six returns, construction regulations, road safety, it is an important road that will improve mobility. And we are doing something called transparency, because we are launching this road infrastructure project for public bidding. A solution will be given to all the families in the country, because it will not only have an impact in the western zone,” the official stressed.
In addition, the visl mega-work will have 25 kilometers of bike lanes to join the cycle route of the Claudia Lars peripheral.
For more than ten years, the Los Chorros section of the Pan-American Highway has exceeded its traffic capacity. In addition, there are a few kilometers of road with high vulnerability due to rockfalls.