New road to Monteverde is seen as a great opportunity for the town

In Monteverde, several local roads are being paved for the first time ever, and they may be followed in next year by a much larger project — the paving of 40 kilometers of road between Monteverde and the Pan American Highway

The better road will allow much easier access to an area that is relatively difficult to get to because of the narrow and winding pothole-filled access roads. Paving the whole road to Monteverde, located in the mountainous cloud forests of northwest Costa Rica, is likely to have a major impact on the area that is home to about 6,000 residents.

Monteverde Mayor Marcony Suarez said that representatives from the Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes told him they are planning on paving the road to his district in the near future. "They told me they are going to finish the whole thing next year," Suarez said.

Also he added ¨We are worried about it," Suarez said. ¨Because we will have a lot of people. For our business it’s very good, but we have to be a little more prepared.¨

Eduardo Venegas Castro, president of the local tourism bureau, said Montverde expects to have 264,000 visitors by the end of this year and that number has been growing for the last 20 years.

¨We’ve been growing at 15 percent per year for the last 20 years¨, said Castro, noting that 3 or 4 percent increase is normal. Using those projections, Castro estimated that in the next eight years Monteverde will need another 2,500 hotel rooms, or 375 per year. If the entrance road were paved, he estimated that those numbers could quadruple.

Monteverde Reserve Director Ricardo Rodriguez Barth said that Estes Park administrators will help provide advice on dealing with the growing number of visitors, including advice on educational programs and dealing with issues such as garbage. The Monteverde Reserve is one of the popular park destinations in Costa Rica and received 67,518 visitors last year. Barth said he would be in favor of paved roads if the proper preparations were made. But he would like to see the last three kilometers leading to preserve have a gravel surface.

The main reason he would like that section to remain unpaved is that if vehicles were able to travel at high speeds within the cloud forest, it could result in a high number of kills among the local wildlife population.

In the meantime, construction crews from the ministry and Gavilan Corp. began work on local roads in early September. Suarez said that about 2.5 kilometers of local roads in Monteverde will be paved with asphalt by late October or early November. The roads were chosen because they receive a lot of traffic and are in hilly sections that often get washed out during the rainy season.

He said about 90 percent of that bill is being paid for by the ministry. In addition, paving the roads could cut down on dust during the dry summer months, a problem that some believe is causing health problems.

One of the few concerns residents have about paving roads in Monteverde is that there will be an increase in local traffic accidents. With the potholes many drivers already approach a high level of speed, often passing cars and finding themselves on the left side of the road when driving between the villages of Santa Elena and Monteverde.

Still the paving of local roads is a reality that many might not believe until the job is completed. ¨When you talk about paved roads no one believes you¨, Suarez said. ¨We have been talking about it for 25 years. Now it’s true.¨