TURRUBARES, Costa Rica – The collapse of a bridge last week that resulted in the death of five people could have been avoided had the government taken heed of an engineer's report carried out in 2006, the report's commissioner has claimed.

The report, complete with photographs, highlighted a series of structural problems and warned of a possible collapse of the bridge over the Río Tárcoles, on the way to the central Pacific town of Orotina.

The morning of Oct. 22, the report's predictions became frighteningly real. One of the cables of the bridge snapped under the weight of a full school bus, which fell six meters into the water.

Guillermo Saborio, chairman of Turu Ba Ri Nature and Adventure Park, in conjunction with the Turrubares Municipality, commissioned IMM & Asociados Ltda. to carry out the study after suspecting maintenance of the old bridge was long overdue.

“It was obvious the bridge was in need of attention, it was more than 80 years old,” Saborio said.

“Many of our visitors used to cross that bridge to get to the park, so we, in conjunction with the municipality, paid for an engineer to carry out a survey, which we sent to (the road authorities) CONAVI, but nothing was done about it.”

Despite those warnings in September 2006, the only work carried out on the bridge in the three years until its collapse was the replacement of 200 wooden planks lining the bridge floor, repairs to a left hand support pillar and a reduction in vehicle weight allowance, from nine tones to four.

Annotated pictures of the support cables connected to concrete blocks at either end of the bridge explained how “years of strain caused by heavy vehicles could have caused severe interior damage and could lead to a collapse of the entire structure,” the report contended.

It concluded: “Considering the level of use and nature of the vehicles that cross the bridge have changed considerably in the last few years, we consider necessary the building of a new, two-lane concrete and steel bridge with side barriers and space for pedestrians.”

Following the bridge's collapse, the Public Works and Transport Ministry called on a Japanese technical expert who will supervise the repair of 10 Costa Rican bridges, earmarked as “priority,” throughout the country.

The expert, experienced in the design of steel and concrete bridges, will be working with engineers starting next year.

See the Oct. 30 print or digital edition of The Tico Times in-depth coverage and analysis.

Traffic crawled along Wednesday morning – in some places it stood still – as private transportation companies tried to drive home a point about a bill before Costa Rica's Legislative Assembly.

Blocking key avenues into the city from Escazú, La Uruca, Heredia and Cartago and disrupting traffic in other parts of the country on Wednesday morning, private car service drivers, known as porteadores, protested a possible end to their business.

The law sitting in the Legislative Assembly would have given exclusive rights to licensed taxi drivers, eliminating the porteadores' ability to legally transport people. Not only would the law stop their services, but private ambulances, tourist transport and student vans also risked termination, said Víctor Salazar, who owns a private transportation company.

“Only public transport (such as red taxis) would have been permitted,” he said. “People didn't think this was very serious, but if it was passed, private ambulances wouldn't be able to do their work.”

Salazar, whose company Transportes San Jorge offers limousine pick-ups, food deliveries and van services, said that thanks to the demonstrations on Wednesday, legislators moved the issue from first place on the agenda to 120th, buying another four years.

“We are satisfied with the outcome today,” he said. “It was a success.”

Yet, not surprisingly, the demonstration got a thumbs down from legislators and government officials.

“It was unacceptable,” said Rodrigo Arias, minister of the presidency. “I hope it doesn't happen again. The solution is not in the streets. The solution is conversation with legislators.”

Costa Rican Social Security System (Caja) officials closed Ricardo Saprissa Stadium Wednesday, claiming the San José soccer team owes a ₡ 720 million (more than $1.2 million) debt, just hours before Saprissa was set to play neighboring rival Liga Deportiva Alajuelense.

The time of closure was not accidental. Manuel Ugarte, the Caja's finance director, explained that his administration chose to shut down the stadium in the northern San José district of Tibás on the day of a game so that the debtor “would feel the impact” of the measure.

Ugarte said Club Deportivo Saprissa's owner, Mexican businessman Jorge Vergara, reported lower salaries to the Caja than his players were actually earning during the period of October 1999 to August 2004.

“Nice way to show off with sports,” the team's lawyer, Jorge González, remarked sarcastically about the Caja's efforts to make an example of Saprissa. He claimed that Saprissa is debt free and that the case of its alleged debt has sat unresolved in the courts for three years.

“(The stadium was) closed because the Caja feels like it. Saprissa is absolutely up to date with its regular and monthly payments,” González said.

“As the administration (of the Caja) has state authority to execute (a closure) without waiting for a verdict” from the court, the lawyer said. “This is a measure that's draconian, arbitrary and more akin to dictatorial regimes.”

The game between old rivals – being billed as el Clásico – has been postponed until a future, as of yet undefined date. Alajuelense has requested the game be played Thursday night at the José Rafael Fello Meza Stadium in Cartago, east of San José, according to the daily La Nación.

Caja officials said the closure is not meant to affect the Costa Rica-Uruguay soccer match at Saprissa scheduled for Nov. 14, tickets for which went on sale Wednesday.

Costa Rica's Finance Ministry received good news Tuesday night when its officials learned that lawmakers had approved the national budget. The approval of the budget, which exceeds ₡ 450 billion ($775 million), allows the planned financial obligations and government spending for November and December to proceed without interruption.

“I am thankful that men and women of the legislature approved this budget, which allows us to finance the spending obligations for the remainder of the year, as well as various elements and resources needed for different public projects,” said Finance Minister Jenny Phillips. “In the context of the crisis that we are currently living in, the boost the government can give public spending to the slow economy is fundamental. The importance of this budget provides a funding to avoid a relapse of the national economy, one that has started to see the first signals of recuperation.”

The approval of the budget will allow government funded projects to continue as scheduled. Some of the projects that will proceed as planned are the continued development of the Limón port project, as well as the Program for the Promotion of Sustainable Agricultural Production.

The budget will also permit the distribution of more than ₡ 4 b illion (almost $7 million) of money donated by China to go towards the Costa Rican Sports and Recreation Institute (ICODER), t he downtown Cultural Civic Center of Pérez Zeledón, the San José Municipality for the construction of Chinatown and the artisan's market, which is being re-located from Plaza de la Democracia to Plaza of Garantías Sociales.

T he approval of the budget will require a slight reduction of spending, as almost ₡ 75 billion (nearly $130 million) will be slashed from expected expenditures. According to the Finance Ministry, some of the decreases in financing are expected to dip into funding for the 2010 Election campaigns.