The accelerated deterioration of the folding posts that began to be placed a year ago in 37 kilometers of the route 32 is evident. In just 12 months, 626 posts (31%) of the 2,000 installed on that road leading to Limón, require replacement, since they lost their ability to get up when struck, or were cut off or taken off the road altogether.
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The doubts about whether the damage presented by the structures is caused by poor quality of the reflective materials causes a dispute between the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the company Jull.
According to Traffic Engineering Manager, Junior Araya, Jull Signals certified that the posts had to withstand up to 200 blows before losing their ability to return to their original position. However, damage to the devices was visible from the first few weeks of installation.
“When the project is executed, the inspection is done and it is verified that all of the posts were installed and appeared to comply with everything, however, there began to arise the question of the performance of the posts by an accelerated deterioration that occurs in The site and before that doubt proceeded to coordinate tests with the Technological Institute of Costa Rica to evaluate their performance, “explained Araya.
Mauricio Araya, from the School of Engineering in Construction of the ITCR, confirmed that the studies were done and were delivered to the MOPT, but claimed that he could not divulge the results by confidentiality. For its part, the company claims that Ingénue signed a final receipt that legally closed the contract since December last year.
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“The useful life is in the poster and is associated with a technical standard, it is not in months or years, but in the amount of impacts that supports a post and the poster says 200 impacts and the standard says of a sedan vehicle,” he claimed Adriano, spokesman for the company. According to the lawyer, the poles were damaged because they were not suitable for the place where they were placed (a road where 4,100 heavy vehicles circulate daily), in addition to the vandalism and bad faith of drivers who passed them.
With these statements, Junior Araya said that the administration can carry out tests or tests to verify the quality of the product, and that having signed the receipt does not imply termination of the contract. In addition, the results of the ITCR have yet to be analyzed in the Board of Directors of the Road Safety Council. An elapsed year and many posts damaged later, the question is whether this device was suitable for route 32. By that route circulate 13,600 vehicles a day, and 30% (4,100) are heavy trucks, according to MOPT data. And to answer, Junior Araya is sharp.
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“There is no such post, which can withstand 200 strokes of a trailer, and from the beginning I did not know that people were going to get over them,” said the hierarch, who defended that it was a pilot plan.
“The poles are not placed so people are hitting them,” Araya added.
According to the official, because it is a road that does not have shoulders and in which it alternates from one to two lanes per direction along the mountainous part, it was necessary safety devices of this type to tell the driver how the demarcation goes, Because by the conditions of the climate in that sector, the painting is constantly erased.
Araya ruled out the possibility of replacing posts with New Jersey barriers, because in case of collapses or accidents would completely block the passage. In the MOPT, they say that the neighbors of sectors such as Potosi have even sent letters requesting that the damaged posts be replaced, because they did stop the fatal accidents.