Costa Rica is slowly digging its way out of decades of delays in infrastructure improvements, one of the main priorities of the current Solís administration.

Along these lines, much needed improvements to another Virilla River bridge, this one on the heavily transited highway connecting Belén to Santa Ana, will begin at the end of March, and last an expected 13 months.

Ministry of Public Works and Transportation (MOPT) officials said in a statement they did not expect traffic along the route, one of the main arteries into the greater San José metropolitan area, to be disrupted during the bridge construction.

Last May, the MOPT’s environmental viability studies for the bridge were approved, and the government began the process of purchasing two properties that would be affected by the new project.

The bridge will be a “metal gantry” bridge with a length of 133 ms and a width of 12.10 ms to accommodate two lanes of 3.60 ms each, an internal shoulder of 0.50 ms, and external shoulders of 2.20 ms, plus sidewalks, said the MOPT.

The structure will be built to the west of the existing bridge and will consist of four lanes, two in each direction, and  will aid in the larger expansion of this important route, known in Spanish as the “Radial Lindora.”

The work was awarded to the builders Copisa-Constructora Pirenaica S.A., said Carlos Villalta Villegas, Minister of Public Works and Transport, who explained that during the coming weeks the contract will be formalized with the company so that work can begin at the end of March.

The bridge will cost an estimated US$8.8 million which will come from a loan from the Central American Economic Integration Bank, said Villalta.