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Tuesday, December 13, 2011

$10 Million in Federal Funding for Caparra Interchange System

Money will be used to improve infrastructure and reduce traffic congestion in San Juan Metropolitan Area

Washington, DC – The U.S. Department of Transportation will allocate the Municipality of Guaynabo $10 million to make significant infrastructure improvements to the Caparra Interchange System, which will reduce traffic congestion on of the most heavily-utilized transit systems in the San Juan Metropolitan Area, Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi announced today.

The multi-million dollar grant proposal, made pursuant to the third round of the federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) program, was submitted by a partnership consisting of the Municipality of Guaynabo and, among others, the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation and Public Works, the United States Army Base Fort Buchanan, and the Grupo Intersección Caparra. The proposal was strongly supported by the Resident Commissioner.

During the application process, Pierluisi spoke personally to U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to advise him that neither Puerto Rico nor any other U.S. territory had received funding under the TIGER I or TIGER II programs, whereas every one of the 50 states had received funding during at least one of the two rounds.

In a subsequent letter sent to the Secretary, the Resident Commissioner observed that the statute authorizing TIGER I stated that the Department of Transportation “shall take such measures so as to ensure an equitable geographic distribution of funds.”

The Caparra Interchange System includes PR-20, Kennedy Avenue, Martínez Nadal Avenue, Roosevelt Avenue, and San Patricio Avenue.

“This is one of the most important interchanges in Puerto Rico. Constructed in the 1960s, the System has seen a rapid increase in traffic volumes which have exceeded the system’s capacity, rendering it inefficient and unsafe. The partnership formed between the Municipality of Guaynabo and state agencies will not be able to proceed with rehabilitation work in the area, making improvements to PR-2, PR-23 y PR-165, constructing new ramps, converting to roundabouts, and improving pedestrian facilities,” said the Resident Commissioner.