The municipality of Querétaro will sign an agreement this week to return to the federal government the section of Highway 57 between Conín and 5 de Febrero, whose administration and maintenance had been handled by the municipal government until now, despite its high operating costs.
This was confirmed by the municipal Secretary of Government, Miguel Ángel Torres Olguín, who explained that after the signing, the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) will be formally responsible for this segment, considered one of the critical points of the highway corridor as it passes through the urban area.
The agreement resulted from the first meeting the official held with the Director of Communications and Transportation in Querétaro, Carlos García, during his first days leading the municipal agency, a position he assumed on April 1st, replacing Federico de los Cobos y Vega.
The transferred section includes the access road to Querétaro near the State Attorney General’s Office and connects to 5 de Febrero, a road that has seen a high number of serious traffic accidents in recent years.
The municipality had already announced in September that it would be monitoring that section of road.
As a second course of action, Torres Olguín reported that the Municipal Public Works Department and the Querétaro Directorate of Communications and Transportation are currently working on the detailed design for a runaway truck ramp intended to prevent accidents on the corridor.
The official specified that two key elements still need to be defined before presenting the proposal: the exact location where the infrastructure will be built and the budget required for the project. These two points depend on the technical analysis being carried out by specialists from both departments.
“Right now, what we need to know is where the ramp will be located, at what height, and there are many options, but the technicians are the ones who have to tell us where it is most convenient and safe,” the secretary explained, detailing the project’s progress.
Once the location is defined and the estimated cost is available, Mayor Felipe Macías Olvera will undertake the necessary procedures to obtain the federal funds to finance the project, he said.
Three levels of government will contribute to financing the runaway truck ramp.
The Secretary of Government acknowledged that the construction of the runaway truck ramp will be a costly project requiring budgetary contributions from all three levels of government.
Torres Olguín assured that the project has the support of the federal government, based on statements made by the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) itself at technical meetings. He also stated that the project’s scale makes it unfeasible for a single level of government to assume the entire cost.
The initiative arises in response to a persistent problem identified by the municipality: fatal accidents on the Conín-5 de Febrero section of the highway, where cargo trucks have lost their brakes on the incline leading into the city.
The technical specifications for the exact location of the runaway truck ramp are still being finalized. Last September, the municipal Public Works Department identified two preliminary alternatives for an emergency ramp in the area known as Cuesta China: the old road to Bernardo Quintana, next to the giant flag, and a point beyond Bernardo Quintana on the access road to Highway 57, according to a previous analysis of the road infrastructure project.
To date, neither the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SCT) nor the National Guard has issued a public statement regarding the evaluated locations or the timeline for when construction might begin.
Source: rotativo
