And now, Punta Ballena's cry of NIMBY

Last week it was the turn of José Ignacio to manifest its discontent with City Hall via the Uruguayan paper of record, El País. This week, as expected, it´s Punta Ballena.

The contended issue for the Punta Ballena neighborhood association, which is probably the most active and effective in the department of Maldonado, is the impending construction of a two-lane road linking the Montevideo-Punta del Este highway (Ruta Interbalnearia) at the Punta Ballena/Lussich Arboretum junction, with Highway 39 in Maldonado.

Neighbors are incensed and talk about the spirit of the founders of the park, and the quiet neighborhood.

As a frequent user of Camino Lussich, a few thoughts come to mind: Camino Lussich is the de facto artery for heavy (commercial) traffic arriving and departing certain areas of Maldonado, and hence, a) the bucolic air is a thing of a past long gone, and b) Camino Lussich must be among the most dangerous thoroughfares in Punta del Este right now due to its woefully inadequate dimension for the types and volume of traffic it handles, combined with its curvy stretches (as witnessed by the overturned truck full of fish that ended up in the arboretum last week).

The road expansion is hardly "under consideration." A huge stretch of it is already under construction and the clearing work already begun for remaining tracts. But the plan for joining Punta Ballena with Jose Ignacio from Camino Lussich is several decades old, one of those things we have learned to believe would never happen.

When revived in 2006 by the current administration, it was said to cost US$30 million. Now it's being mentioned as a US$60 million project. That's the only difference I could find between reports in the press from 3 years ago and the article this week.

The obvious positive factor would be decongesting all of the Punta del Este Peninsula from heavy and light traffic alike, with both commercial traffic going to Maldonado and beyond, and cars going to points east able to bypass the peninsula altogether, shortening travel time to those locations and reducing the associated emissions of pollutants. Another obvious pro would be making Camino Lussich a safer road for everyone.

From a "greater good" perspective, the thought of not having a considerable number of cars traversing all of the Peninsula through various indirect roads to go to eastern parts of Punta del Este, La Barra, Manantiales, El Chorro, Balneario Buenos Aires, etc. appears to be a clear winner. Detractors (neighbors of the Lussich road) refer to potential users as "those who are in a rush, even while on vacation," but I find that disingenuous.

The truck drivers supplying all of the coastal towns have no reason to be on the waterfront in Punta del Este, or to be driving through Maldonado town, or the neighborhoods of Pinares, Aidy Grill, Lugano or Rincon del Indio, not to mention Roosevelt, Artigas and Chiverta avenues. Neither do residents or vacationers going to those eastern neighborhoods or towns. Removing this traffic from city roads will be an improvement to traffic and quality of life throughout Maldonado and Punta del Este.

Judging by the markers on the side of the road right now, the proposed plan does not involve cutting across the Lussich Arboretum, but rather an expansion of the existing road that already borders it. All things considered, the greater good could be better served by expanding this road.