A fire on the overpass located on Pedro Menéndez Gilbert Avenue, at the height of the La Atarazana citadel, turned mobility in the center of Guayaquil into chaos yesterday.

The fire broke out at 04:00 a.m. when, according to the authorities, homeless people who stole a public installation set fire to these materials with the aim of extracting copper, and the garbage accumulated inside intensified the fire. The north-south traffic lane remained closed until the afternoon, without managing to overcome the crowd.

An infrastructure that barely manages during peak hours to contribute to the mobility of citizens arriving in the center of the commercial center of Guayaquil from Samborondón, Daule or north of Guayaquil, or vice versa, was already an incomplete solution for what was chosen to authorize a complementary lane at a certain time.

A fire that has brought chaos to those passing through the area also becomes an alert to be heeded.

The first is the search for mobility solutions in Guayaquil. This road, regularly loaded in the morning, between 07:30 and 09:00, and in the afternoon and at night, between 17:00 and 19:00, requires the intervention or regulation of transit professionals, outside of the conflict yesterday when it took users up to two hours to pass. The route unites the financial and commercial sector with the manufacturing and industrial sector, as well as housing.

Aerovía, an alternative for mobilization between Durán and Guayaquil due to the bridge fire

The second is to control the theft of wires and other public resources. The event once again exposes the problem, but it is not unknown to local and state governments. This time it is the overpass where the fire broke out, but just to give an example, the bridge that connects Guayaquil to the La Joya sector and av. León Febres-Cordero (Daule) remains in the dark, and according to experts, the reason would be wire theft.

There, they have to solve two pressing traffic and safety problems before they continue to worsen. (OR)