Trauma due to the large traffic flow, the poor condition of the roads and theft are some of the problems experienced by certain drivers who travel through the department. These affectations, apparently, have been increasing due to the closure of the Pan-American Highway, added to the necessary interventions carried out by the Ruta Al Sur concessionaire. The foregoing, despite the efforts that allowed 2022 to close with positive figures in the face of fatalities.
DIARY OF HUILA, HUILA
By: Johan Edward Rojas Lopez
Andrés Felipe Puentes Caballero, director of the Institute of Transport and Transit of Huila, assured that, indeed, in the department of Huila there are two affectations that are causing mobility trauma in the road actors who travel these roads. The foregoing corresponds in the first place to what was generated by the winter issue, which generated many complications on the various roads.
“The closure of the Pan-American highway has forced vehicles to take the roads of the department of Huila as an alternate route, especially route 45. To this we must add that, although it is true and the intervention made by the concessionaire Ruta al South on Route 45, there are also temporary road closures while they carry out the interventions,” said Puentes Caballero.
Currently, three temporary closures have been reported where work is carried out to replace and change the asphalt layer in the central area of the department, which generates delays in displacements within the region. In addition, other interventions are scheduled in the roundabouts of the road intersections of the municipalities that will be previously informed to the community.
For this reason, they call on the road actors to be patient while these actions are concluded and the national government is able to provide a solution to the increase in vehicles that are currently traveling the roads of the department, given that the aforementioned is negatively influencing the normal mobility.
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High accident rate
All this situation has contributed to the increase in the accident rate in the region, thus closing the first month of the year with 37 road accidents, 24 deaths and 42 injuries, while, during the same month of 2022, 46 road accidents were recorded, 15 deaths. and 66 injured.
In other words, road accidents and injuries decreased, but deaths increased. In addition, there was a significant increase in subpoena orders, going from 987 during January 2022 to 1,425 in January of this term, which reflects the presence of road controls.
However, the overall behavior of the last quarter of the year was very positive, since there was a reduction of more than 68.5% in terms of fatalities. “We came with a good behavior and only that we had an unfortunate and tragic event that left 9 dead, which increased the number, but raised the awareness of drivers and citizens, who began to legalize their complaints. Efforts are being redoubled in the sense of carrying out road safety campaigns throughout the department, ”he insisted.
Hence the importance of continuing with an articulated work together with the Ministry of Transport, Transport Terminals, Transit and Transport Section of the National Police and the authorities of the municipalities that have municipal transit, in order to mitigate the trauma that has generated the climatic variation and the interventions that are being developed on the road.
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No official figures for the theft
For Major Fabio Augusto Mateus Camelo, head of the Huila Transit and Transportation Section, so far in the year 2023 “we have not had any kind of affectation on the national route that includes transit through the department of Huila; despite the fact that there has been an increase in mobility”.
This is confirmed by the 426,127 vehicles that entered the region in January and the 427,616 that left. Given this, they continue with the more than 100 uniformed officers distributed in the seven road quadrants distributed from Tolima to Caquetá and Putumayo.
However, some drivers have denounced through digital platforms some acts of theft on the roads of the department, especially on Route 45 and although according to Mateus Camelo there is no official complaint, he acknowledges that indeed some facts are known of this kind
“So far we have not filed any complaints about thefts in the road corridors of the department, but we know and are aware that there is a special situation on the border with Caquetá where apparently a public service vehicle turned out to be stolen by people who were mobilizing on a motorcycle, however, unfortunately we have not reported any of these cases. Faced with this, we have carried out a road prevention activity with the companies and likewise we carry out patrol activities with civilian personnel and the road quadrant to which that sector corresponds permanent patrols to avoid that such an event is presented to us again ”, clarified.
Finally, Edgar Muñoz Torres, mayor of Pitalito, has expressed his concern about the situation on several occasions, because according to him, the road crisis in the southwest of the country continues to seriously affect the deteriorated route 45.
“We are working with the department of Putumayo, specifically with the mayor of Mocoa with whom we sent a communication to the minister so that the situation we are experiencing on this national highway is addressed because the collapse in the department of Huila, in addition, due to road insecurity, increasing road accidents due to the very high increase in the frequency of use, especially of heavy-duty vehicles”, he pointed out.