New measures to avoid blockages on the Bogotá Girardot highway, which was closed this Wednesday

It was a long night for citizens who decided to take a few days off in the outskirts of Bogotá. In the early hours of this Wednesday, April 13, hundreds of cars were involved in a trancón for several hours, which meant that solutions are now being sought from the local authorities. In particular, the Vía 40 Express concessionaire is being asked to lift some of the mobility restrictions that remain on the road due to the expansion and adaptation works that are being carried out.

Invías's #767 service revealed that there were “counterflow and sporadic closures along the Bogotá-Girardot road, due to road maintenance works and high traffic flow.” “At 2:00 a.m. we arrived one kilometer from Alto de Boquerón, around 3:00 a.m. they let us go a little and we are going with heavy traffic to the Devil's Nose. It started to move, but we just realized with the applications that gave way 20 minutes and have already closed,” María Alejandra Peñalosa, one of the citizens caught in traffic, told Blu Radio.

The allegations are made because it was the night closure of the Sumapaz tunnel that has generated high traffic flows, particularly for these days, when the Holy Week festivities are celebrated. According to the concessionaire, along the stretch there are 17 areas with rail crossings, alternate crossings, intermittent closures and counterflow sections. Five of these structures affect Melgar. Likewise, those modifications are felt in Los Cobos, El Salero, El Mohan, the variant and the Sumapaz Tunnel.

“We have had meetings to get them to open, what we call the variant, which is the one that doesn't enter Melgar, but passes behind the Air Force, where they are working on a giant rock. We hope that they can collaborate with us and not affect the entry and exit of the municipality,” said Iván López, Melgar's Secretary of Government, in view of the difficulties. This parallel to the fact that Vía 40 Express was asked to enable the temporary version of the variant.

The concessionaire commented that the closure “took place as part of the fulfillment of the work schedule for the construction of the third lane on the Bogotá-Girardot highway. Traffic was handled through a counterflow through the Devil's Nose sector.” This Wednesday, in response to requests, Vía 40 Express detailed that it reduced the closure of the tunnel in two hours, which allowed the mobility of users. The passage was enabled at 4:00 in the morning.

In addition to this, it was announced that from today, until the end of Holy Week, “there will be no more closures in the Sumapaz Tunnel to guarantee the mobility of users. However, due to the complexity of the works being carried out at that point due to the deep rehabilitation of the slabs, a lane will continue to be closed permanently, so a contingency plan has been put in place that consists of enabling a counterflow along the Girardot-Bogotá road (...) in some of them counterflows or lane reductions will be maintained to ensure the safety of users, since there are points with highly complex jobs”.

The Tolima transit authorities emphasized that in addition to the difficulties on the road, there are several citizens who decided to mobilize. Although 60,000 or 70,000 people were expected to be transferred, it is now estimated that there will be about 100,000.

Keep reading: