Panama City is a very beautiful city with a lot of history. You
may see Panama’s skyline is the contrast between the Casco Viejo
(Old Colonial Spanish) and the Balboa Avenue, banking area and
Punta Pacifica and Punta Paitilla modern buildings. While
the modern part of town is a fast moving city with skyscrapers everywhere,
all kinds of restaurants and night clubs, a lot of small shops as
well as big department stores and shopping malls, cellphones ringing
allover, the Casco Viejo takes you way back in time with it’s narrow
streets, cafes and it’s great architecture.

Nice things to do include a visit to the Amador Causeway (a wavebreaker
converted into a tourist magnet, which connects three small islands
to the mainland) to grab a bite in one of the many restaurants it
has to offer, ride a bicycle, watch the cruises at the marina or
to just take a walk in the windy afternoon.

At the periphery of
the modern town you will find the ruins of Panama La Vieja,
the first town founded by Spaniards at the Pacific in 1519 and destroyed
by Pirate Henry Morgan.

Everything sounds great.. but traffic congestion?

The New Balboa Avenue expansion will be ready for April of 2009.

Traffic jams are a part of daily life in Panama City, where there are over 330,000 vehicles of the 640,000 total in the entire country. About 70.000 vehicles use Balboa Ave every day and about 54.000 use Tumba Muerto at the intersection with Cerro Patacon and Villa Caceres.

So, what’s being done to release this congestion? This month, in July 2007, an inter-institutional commission will be formed to manage several significant government infrastructure investments on highways, potable water and sanitary sewage systems in the metropolitan area of Panama City, San Miguelito, Colon, La Chorrera and Arraijan, in order to coordinate these projects to be completed within the next two years.

Already in the first 2 meetings of this commission they have identified 73 tactically important points which aggravate problems of traffic congestion.

The Minister of Public Works Benjamin Colamarco said that the commission will take the actions necessary to improve traffic circulation during the construction of these public works projects and that they count on the support of the National Police and the Transit Authority to help orient citizens.

Some of the solutions for the 73 tactically important points identified are already being constructed.

The Northern and Southern Corridors are going to be joined from Tinajitas to Tocumen with two main roads, one that goes down towards Villa Lucre and another that goes down towards Domingo Diaz.

The first stage is the section that goes from Tinajitas to the Club de Golf, and from the Club de Golf to Villa Lucre and at Domingo Diaz down through Las Trancas. This stage should be done by January of 2008.

The second stage goes from the Club de Golf to Tocumen, where the road has already been expanded to four lanes, of the Panamericana between the Riande Continental Airport Hotel and 24 de Diciembre. This section should be done by January of 2009.

The amplification of the Pan-American Highway to four lanes to the East of Panama City. This section will be put up for public bid in August 2007 and runs from the Hotel Riande Airport towards Pacora.

Panama City Beltway: For the first time it will be possible to drive around Panama City in the summer of 2009 by leaving from the Albrook Bus Terminal and entering the Northern Corridor as far as Tinajitas. From there take the new road leaving the Northern Corridor toward the Tocumen Airport and then follow the Southern Corridor until Via Israel, where at the tunnel of Las Esclavas you will be able to take the new Coastal Beltway road, and then from the 3rd of November there will be a new road that will allow you to arrive directly to the Avenida de los Martires (4th of July), Albrook, or the Bridge of the Americas.

The expansion of Transistmica to four lanes from Villa Zaita to Alcalde Diaz. This project is already being built. This project is expected to be completed by October 2008.

On The Atlantic Coast, Via Transistmica is being restored.

The street that goes from the Cuatro Altos into the City of Colon is being repaired, upgraded, and expanded to four lanes.

In addition in the City of Colon the sixteen primary streets are going to be repaired and rehabilitated.

The Pan-American Highway is being expanded to four lanes in Western Panama province. This project includes the expansion of a 13 miles stretch of highway between Arriajan and La Chorrera, five bridges over rivers, 26 bridges over the highway for foot traffic, and a cloverleaf interchange at the exit of the freeway and the Pan-American where it is being extended to four lanes. That project should be finished in December of 2007 and will benefit more than 500,000 Panama residents.

Vehicle Over-passes in Panama City: There will be nine new vehicle overpasses built at tactically critical points. Already three of these bridges have been put up for public bid and are being built; one in Avenue Domingo Diaz, first in the Acacias, the second at Depot Car and the third front of Los Pueblos. In 30 days two more vehicle overpasses will be put up for bid for the second time because the first bid was declared void.

The first will be on Avenue Ricardo J. Alfaro (Tumba Muerto) and the intersection with Patacon, Villa Caceres and Avenida of La Paz, which includes a clover-leaf interchange that will improve traffic in that area in all directions, to and from the Centennial Bridge and the traffic using Tumba Muerto.

The next vehicle bridge will be build in San Isidro, which will be a double horseshoe that will accompany the extension to four lanes of Transistmica from Villa Zaita to Mayor Diaz, so as to prevent congestion at the entrance in San Isidro.

The four remaining vehicle overpasses will be located in: the exit to the Avenida La Amistad at the back gates of Albrook and Clayton; one on Calle 50 at the intersection with Via Brazil and Via Israel. At this point there will be a new pilot system used that will allow for continuous flow of traffic and left turns to exit the area of Punta Pacifica and Paitilla. This same system will be implemented in the intersection of Via Brazil with Transistmica in the Paical.

Coastal Beltway and the “New Road”: Construction on this project will begin this year and will eleviate congestion on Balboa Avenue and will created 20 hectares of parks for public use.

The Highway from Panama to Colon: The work on this highway will be finished in March 2009 and when it opens people will be able to drive from Panama City to Colon in 35 minutes.

View the New Balboa Avenue expansion project on the following video:

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