Tempisque River

Bridge over the Tempisque River
* Problem: Government wants to build a bridge over the Tempisque River, residents are asking the government to construct the bridge since the only way to cross itis through a ferry. The ferry now represents a great danger and it is not available all day and it tends to break often. Environmentalists insists that building the bridge will bring negativeconsequences to the ACT area the bridge will be constructed. Tourist agencies claim that the bridge will carry losses to them since the attractiveness of the area is the isolation it has from the rest of thesociety.
* Consequences: There has been a migration of people from Guanacaste to San Jose looking for better job opportunities. This migration is due to adjustment in agricultural support and theisolation of the region.
Traffic had increase to the point where the bridge that was previously declined due to the environmental impact was again considered as an option to the increase in trafficin the area. The bridge will also help reduce travel time between the Nicoya Peninsula and San Jose, the bridge would reduce travel time by 30% and induce a 30% increase in traffic between the tworegions.
Benefits of the new bridge were calculated in the savings in time and vehicle operating costs and the savings in the ferry operating and capital costs.
* Numbers:
Local civil engineernamed Wesson argued that the current ferry design was lousy. He proposed a new design in which time and capacity increased.
Current:
Crossing time: 12 minutes.
Boarding: 28 seconds per vehicle.Unloading: 16 seconds per vehicle.
Ferry capacity: 30 vehicles.
Total time for crossing: 12 min + (28*30)/60 + (16*30)/60 = 34 minutes
Improvements proposed:
The improvements Wesson proposed werechanging ramps and other infrastructural components. The total roundtrip would be of just 23 minutes and a capacity of 78 vehicles per hour in each direction. He also proposed adding a smaller ferry...