The Comptroller General of Costa Rica published its resolution in which it determines that the company Meco S.A. complies with all legal requirements to be awarded the construction of an underpass that will replace the roundabout known as “Rotonda de las Garantias Sociales”. The appeal had been presented by the company FCC Construction America S.A. back in February. This resolution allows th...

The expansion of the bridge over the Virilla River which connects Belen in Heredia, with Lindora in Santa Ana will finally conclude early August, confirmed President Carlos Alvarado and the Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Rodolfo Mendez Mata, during an inspection done this Wednesday. This bridge is being expanded from two to four lanes and it’s the first step in the expansion of th...

The National Roads Authority (CONAVI) resumed since the early hours of Sunday the cleaning work o the national routes that were affected by the strong rains of Friday and Saturday. The works done in Route 32 which connects Limon to San Jose, allowed the mobility of vehicles and trucks in the area of Zurqui which remained trapped. Many drivers that were rescued yesterday had to return for their ca...

Uber has been operating in Costa Rica for almost three years, and according to information published by national newspaper El Financiero (https://bit.ly/2JaTm4t), it currently has a total of 21,000 registered drivers and 800,000 users; this makes Costa Rica the country with more market penetration in Latin America and one of the most important markets in the world. Andres Echandi, General Mana...

This Tuesday a team lead by a technical team from the University of Costa Rica's National Laboratory of Structural Materials and Models (Lanamme) with the support of the Coca Cola company, the ALIARSE Foundation and the Municipality of Desamparados, presented their project “Green Asphalt” (Asfalto Verde), a new asphalt mix, unique in Latin America that includes within its components PET plastic f...

The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation and Banco de Costa Rica (BCR) which operates the escrow Route 1, announced that the first works for the route between La Sabana (San Jose) and San Ramon (Alajuela) will begin in the second semester of 2019. The announcement was made in a press conference at the Presidential House with the participation of President Carlos Alvarado, the Minister of...

On Monday, June 18, truckers will take some of the main roads such as Route 27 (Caldera-San Jose), the General Cañas highway (Alajuela-San Jose) and Route 32 (Limon-San Jose, to protest against a number of situations they consider affect their jobs. The slow moving protest convoy of trailer trucks will begin at 6 a.m. leaving from several points: one group from the Coyolar-Orotina toll booth t...

Image for Illustration Purposes Only The Government of Costa Rica announced during the official presentation of the First Latin American Congress on Sustainability, Ecology and Evolution (SEE), which will take place in Parque Viva, September 26 through the 28, the implementation of a trial project involving electric buses. Three electric buses, or e-buses, will transit the roads of Costa Ri...

The First Lady of Costa Rica, Claudia Dobles, held meetings throughout last week with groups in charge of the construction of metropolitan rapid transit systems in other Latin American countries. The purpose of these meetings is to learn from the different experiences in countries such as the cities of Medellin and Bogota in Colombia and in Panama. In the meetings, Dobles, an architect, inqu...

The Costa Rican government announced the inauguration this Monday, June 4th of Route 257 which will connect Route 32 (San Jose-Limon) to the Moin Container Terminal. The design and construction of this road was executed by the company Consorcio del Atlantico which is formed by Constructora Meco and Spanish company Puentes y Calzadas; it had a cost of approximately $77 million USD and took 18 mo...

A bill analyzed by the Legislative Assembly proposes a change in the Transit Law to allow the Public Force (Fuerza Publica) to act as traffic cops when necessary and have the ability to extend tickets and fines for law violations. The bill received the support of 51 deputies. The project establishes the cooperation between both police forces and gives one year for the Ministry of Public Works a...

Once again, the bridge over the Virilla River on the road that connects Lindora, Santa Ana with San Antonio de Belen, Heredia will be closed at night time starting this Sunday May 20th through Thursday, May 24 from 10 p.m. through 5 a.m. This time, the closure is for the installation of the central part of the new bridge; in order to do this cranes will be working on both the existing bridge as...

Infrastructure is one of the biggest challenges Costa Rica has and one of the top priorities for the new government as established by President Carlos Alvarado; the new Minister of Public Works and Transportation, Rodolfo Mendez Mata, is aware of the difficulties ahead and willing to resign if he does not reach his goals. Mendez Mata took his position as new Minister of Public Works and Transpo...

One of Carlos Alvarado’s first actions as President of Costa Rica was signing an order along with the Minister of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT), Rodolfo Mendez Mata, to find a solution to 28 “bottlenecks” that cause the main traffic jams in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM). The President also indicated that the order also includes repairing 60 kilometers of roads located in the more...

The number of road accidents in Costa Rica this 2018 has decreased in comparison to the same period of 2017. In total between January and April 2017 a total of 179 people lost their lives, while for the same period of this year road accidents account for 148 deaths, in total 31 less. “We see that the decrease is important. We have the rainy season coming up, mid-term vacations, and the Romer...

The presidential inauguration ceremony in Costa Rica will take place on Tuesday, May 8; public employees have the day off and therefore public service offices will be closed for the day with the exception of emergency services; the event will also bring some road closures. The ceremony in which president elect Carlos Alvarado will be sworn in for a four-year term of office, will take place at t...

This Saturday, May 5, the Minister of Public Works, German Valverde, and President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, inaugurated the works done in the crossroad close to the Juan Santamaria Airport in Alajuela. According to Valverde, the changes made in this road will make the traffic in the area a lot more fluent, allowing drivers to save as much as 30 minutes to reach their destinations. ...

The night closures of the bridge over the Virilla River which connects Lindora in Santa Ana with Belen will continue through May 10. Although initially the closures were scheduled through May 3, the Ministry of Public Transportation (MOPT) informed that the labors of ensemble and welding in the new bridge will require the night closures to continue for a few more days. The bridge will remain...

The Costa Rican government has approved the project “Fortuna en Dos Ruedas” (Fortune in Two Wheels), which proposes the creation of a 60 kilometer bike lane in the tourist area of La Fortuna de San Carlos. With an investment of close to U.S. $20 million, the bike lane will be developed in five stages and will take cyclists through some of the most important tourist sites in this area, the cent...

As of the night of Wednesday, April 25 and every night through Thursday, May 3, the bridge over the Virilla River in Lindora, Santa Ana will be completely closed with the purpose of installing the auxiliary structure located to one of the sides and moving it to the opposite side. According to the information offered by the National Roads Authority (CONAVI) the structure that was put in place ba...

On the surface it sounds like a great idea, most modern cities have exclusive bike lanes, it’s a way of promoting a clean method of transportation and a healthy lifestyle... but is the city of San Jose really ready for this? Or is this plan going to cause more harm than good? Many Costa Ricans that go through San Jose on a regular basis seem to think this plan is, as Ticos say “applying perfume on...

As of this Thursday, April 5 at 10 p.m. the bridge over the Virilla River in Lindora, Santa Ana will be completely closed in order to install an auxiliary structure that will support the beams of a new frame for the bridge under construction. Transit will be closed from 10 p.m. through 5 a.m. for five nights starting on April 5, confirmed the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT). ...

If you are a user of Route 32 (San Jose-Limon) and/or the Florencio del Castillo highway that connects San Jose to Cartago , take into consideration that the Quick Pass devices won’t be working on these toll booths for a period of three months. The Quick Pass is an electronic device that allows drivers to have their toll fees deducted directly from the bank account and to use exclusive lanes fo...

This is not unusual, every year during  Christmas, New Year week and then Holy Week the number of people that lose their lives increases. Road accidents, water accidents, homicides and domestic aggression are sadly very common this time of the year. The Holy week just began and the authorities already register 5 people dead as a result of car accidents, while two people have died victims of wat...

The Costa Rica Train Institute (INCOFER) has begun the process to purchase 8-10 units of diesel trains with capacity for approximately 350-400 people each. INCOFER has established a budget of approximately $52 million for this purpose out of which INCOFER already has 40% in its 2018 budget; a 20% will come from the 2019 budget and the final payment will be done in 2020. “The purchase of the ...

The Costa Rican Government received from the Government of Japan a donation of 60 hybrid and electric cars that will allow Costa Rica to continue to strengthen the actions of 13 public institutions while at the same time reducing the national impact in global warming. The vehicles offer modern technology that will limit contamination and reduce gas emissions. The donation is equivalent to clos...

Traffic in Costa Rica is bad under normal conditions in the majority of the Metropolitan Area every day and especially during peak hours; whenever there is a minor accident it gets worse, and in cases of severe accidents where someone tragically dies the streets collapse for hours. Part of the problem is that when someone dies as a result of a car accident the body cannot be removed without the...

The Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) of Costa Rica informed they will be closing the crossroad in front of the Fiesta Casino, near the Juan Santamaría Airport in Alajuela this Thursday at 8 a.m. This road connects the area known as INVU Las Cañas and the General Cañas highway on the way from Alajuela to San Jose. The access from INVU to the Airport will also be closed tempo...

The Expomovil 2018, Costa Rica’s main car expo will gather the main car and motorcycle agencies as well as accessory stores and other services in the automotive business. The fair, organized by the Association of Importers of Vehicles and Machinary (AIVEMA) will take place from March 8 through March 18 at the Pedregal Event Center in San Antonio de Belen, Heredia. Agencies will present their...

The Electric Transportation bill was approved by congress in Costa Rica back in December 2017; the bill is intended to promote the use of electric vehicles through the creation of tax exemptions of up to 100% depending on the cost of the car, these measures hope to bring down contamination levels and the use of fossil fuels replacing them for clean energies. Now, two months after the approval o...

The Ministry of Public Works and Transportations (MOPT) will begin this Monday, February 19 with the establishment of security devices in 91 train intersections located in the areas of Pavas -San José- Curridabat, Heredia-San José and San José-Cartago. Engineer German Valverde, Minister of Public Works, explained that they expect these devices will force drivers to be more respectful of the tra...

The Ministry of Public Work and Transportation (MOPT) and the National Roadway Council (CONAVI- Consejo Nacional de Vialidad) are investing 165 million colones (approximately $290,400.00 USD) towards the attention of National Route 620 which connects the Santa Elena community to the Monteverde Biological Reserve which suffered serious damages as a result of tropical storm Nate. This route is of...

This Monday, February 12 the road work near the Juan Santamaria Airport will begin with the purpose of improving the flow of vehicles in this area. According to engineer German Valverde, Minister of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT), they will address two initial parts of the project , the construction of the loop that will connect the General Cañas highway to Route 3 (Rio Segundo) and ...

Back in December 15,2017 the Electric Transportation bill was approved by Costa Rica´s congress; this bill promotes the use of electric vehicles by making them more affordable by establishing several tax exemptions of even 100% depending on the cost of the car. The President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis, signed the law this week, making it official, Ïn a few years the transportation flee...

This Wednesday, January 31, the bridge over the Virilla River in the road that connects Santa Ana to Belen (Radial Santa Ana-Belen) will be closed from 3 a.m. through 7 a.m. A new bridge is being constructed here, and although so far the construction work has been done without the need to interrupt transit in the area, this time, however, they are required to close while they put in place a part ...

If you have had the fun experience of driving in Costa Rica you’ve probably already had your share of encounters with one or many dangerous potholes. It’s actually difficult to find a road in Costa Rica in perfect conditions, and if you find one it probably will not last long, potholes are responsible for at least 20% of car failures according to AutoPits; from flat tires to damaged rims, suspe...

The Judicial Investigation Organism (OIJ) in Costa Rica conducted a raid in the offices of the Costa Rican Train Institute (Incofer) to collect information and evidence regarding the accident where two loaded freight wagons detached and went out of control dragging a vehicle and causing the death of two people and leaving a third victim, a pedestrian, in critical condition. The police is inves...

There is still not a specific date to begin the work, but the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation expects to have them ready by May, and has confirmed that as part of the works to extend the road San Jose-San Ramon, changes will be done to the accesses close to the Juan Santamaria Airport in Alajuela. The plan was designed by the General Directorate of Transit Engineering, and will be e...

As it had been informed by the National Meteorological Institute, a cold front entered the country on Saturday night and has affected mainly the province of Limon with heavy rainfall and strong winds, these conditions are also seen in the different beaches in this province which currently present strong swell. Route 32 which leads to Limon, and route 10 which connects Turrialba in Cartago to th...

As The Costa Rica Star reported last year, Costa Rica averaged over 1 death daily in road accidents last year; by December 31st the number was of 457. This number has continued to go up year after year and has reached a rate of 9.16 per every 100,000 inhabitants; motorcyclists make up for almost 50% of those fatal accidents. In addition to the number of people that have lost their lives on the...