Freshly painted highway markings and new speed limit signs that appeared this week at the bottom end of Libramiento bypass stand as an excellent example of how pro-active citizens and government officials can work together to resolve local problems.
Heeding petitions from homeowners residing in subdivisions that border the Chapala-Ajijic shortcut road, local personnel from the Secretaria de Movilidad (Semov) set to work last Monday to repaint the lines defining traffic lanes on the southern stretch of the roadway, adding signposts and two segments of bright yellow diagonal lines across the asphalt to simulate speed bumps indicating the zone where the permitted speed drops to 40 kilometers per hour.
The project stems from a series of meetings between top Chapala area Semov officials and representatives of subdivision property owners that have been taking place since April. The purpose of the encounters was to devise a cooperative plan aimed at slowing down traffic, enhancing safety for motorists entering and exiting the residential enclaves and reducing the noise nuisance caused by truck drivers who frequently use their motors for braking as the slow down on approach to the intersection at the Chapala-Jocotepec highway.
Decisions on strategies were based on a petition signed by 300 individuals and 32 letters of support outlining proposals for solving common concerns. Many residents also reached into their pockets to fund the cost of purchasing paint and signage, raising around 13,000 pesos to date for the cause.
The project survived a minor bump in the road three weeks ago when local Semov commander Pedro García Aguilar was reassigned to a new post in the Guadalajara metro area. By a stroke of good fortune, he has been replaced by José de Jesús Vargas Michel, the traffic police officer who personally handled the task of developing the Libramiento traffic safety plan.
With the grunt work done, petitioners are now crossing their fingers that traffic patrols will start beefing up vigilance to enforce the posted speed limit and force trucks drivers to brake without raising an ear-splitting ruckus.