Dominican capital´s traffic woes cost motorists time and money

Santo Domingo.- Motoristswho use the capital´s 27 de Febrero and Kennedy-Duarte thoroughfares could bespending as much as RD$6,000 more onfuel daily resulting from rush hour traffic jams.

Estimates by the group SoluVialRDquoted by diariolibre.com show that the 9-kilometer trip from the start of the Duartehighway to downtown should take no longer than six minutes, can be as long as around40 minutes in rush hour, a loss of up RD$200 per day.

"This means thatthe investment of time in traffic jams are multiplied by seven, while fuel increaseseight to tenfold, due to increased consumption that involves constant braking andacceleratingby vehicles," said SoluVialRDspokesman Peter Then.

He said the situationaffects more than 50,000 vehicles which use both arteries daily and some200,000 people indirectly.

He said SoluvialRD groupsmore than 90 people interested in improving Santo Domingo´s traffic by monitoringand measuring the main streets and avenues every day in real time, with thecollaboration of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (AMET) and the NationalDistrict City Council.