metropolitan

Construction traffic scars streets, annoys residents

An Autoridad de Tránsito y Transporte Terrestre report complained that a lack of adequate staff kept the agency from regulating commercial vehicle traffic.

Maydée Romero/LA PRENSA

monster trucks: City commuters must share the road with overloaded construction vehicles. 1046153

As the capital continues to expand, more and more of the city traffic is made up of heavy equipment, such as dump trucks and concrete mixers.

Much as they are a symbol of growth and progress, some city dwellers say they and the bulky loads they are transporting are taking a toll on roads and highways, and increasing noise pollution to unbearable levels.

“They are like monsters who walk through the city causing destruction,” said Lineth Sánchez, who has had her car’s windshield battered by pebbles flying out from a poorly-covered construction truck bed on several occasions.

And how the monsters roar. Stentorian horns, shrieking breaks and the grumble of massive engines and shifting loads have become the principal sounds of the city between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.

But it’s the accidental spilling or premature dumping of building materials that is causing most damage to the city streets.

Ulises Lay, a member of the Comisión Vial de la Sociedad de Ingenieros y Arquitectos (Spia), said the problem with the heavy equipment is that they often carry up to 30 percent more than their capacity.

And whereas in other countries construction traffic is more restricted within the city, said Lay, in Panama, there is a lack of enforcement of the 1989 law regulating the weights and dimensions of vehicles transporting cargo on public roads.

Lay attributed the situation to the Autoridad de Tránsito y Transporte Terrestre (ATTT), whose responsibility it is to enforce the law.

ATTT refused to comment on the issue, but a recent financial report hinted that a staffing deficit prevented the agency from carrying out the cargo assessments as required by law.

According to the report, prepared by the Dirección de Operaciones in July 2007, the Control de Pesos y Dimensiones counted 62 officers, with 48 of those manning the seven weigh stations throughout the province. Another seven ATTT officials were responsible for mobile weight assessments.

The document concluded that “the ATTT does not have enough staff to effectively exercise control and supervision of commercial vehicles.”

Even so, the agency cited 14,382 commercial vehicles in 2006, 40 percent of which were considered overweight.