Well, somehow it’s 2020 already, and I promised myself I’d get back into this blog. However, I must warn you that I’m terrible about New Year’s resolutions and this could very well be my only blog entry for the year!
If you’ve driven in La Paz anytime since November 1st, you’ve no doubt been frustrated by the wide-spread street closures that turn a simple “drive across town” into a maddening maze. In addition to the ongoing project of reconstructing the two streets and the park located between the downtown cathedral and the old municipal palace turned museum, the geniuses in charge of street “repair” for the State of BCS had some other surprises for us.
Beginning about November 1st, 11 intersections were closed to traffic so they could be ripped up and (eventually) replaced with a concrete surface. While the new intersections will be more durable and resistant to water damage, the streets connecting them are still the pothole-riddled black top they’ve always been. To the contractors’ credit, most of the barricades came down right on schedule and the streets were reopened at the end of the year.
Early in the new year we learned that the above-mentioned intersection project was only PHASE 1 and on January 6th another 14 intersections were closed! So once again, it’s become a real challenge to get from one end of town to the other.
It’s hard to imagine that ANY thought went into the decision about which intersections to close during a specific phase of the project because the resulting detours often took you to another street that was itself closed a just a few blocks away. It’s much easier to imagine a group of “planners” huddled over a tattered map, laughing and lapping each other on the back as they crossed out random intersections. The current Phase 2 is supposed to be complete by late March and it will be interesting to see what they have up their collective sleeves next!