Costa Rica has been well known in the past for having rather 'Scary' bridges around the country, with tourists unwilling to cross some, and even the mot hardened locals sometimes thinking twice before crossing. And now it has been officially recognised that something needs to be done to avoid a repeat of the disaster in Minnesota last week.

A study of over 1000 of the natio\ns bridges was carried out by a organisation of Japanese specialists, and the findings, as expected were quite alarming. A number of key, large bridges were said to be in a critical condition, with 10 of the most important said to need nearly $11 million worth of repairs and reinforcements.

So why exactly have the nations bridges got into such a state? Well the main reason is due to the huge and rapid increase in the number of cars and other traffic on the road. This huge increase was impossible to keep up with in terms of bridge development and reinforcement. Some bridges are over 80 years old, when people were still using horse and carts to move their coffee.

The emergency commission has now allocated some 25% of its budget solely to the development and repar\ir of the nations bridges, far more than ever allocated in the past. A huge overhaul of the main 'Critical' bridges is due to begin this year. Lets hope they get the repairs done before another tragedy occurs!

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