SIOP-installed traffic signals at the Walmart intersection stopped working Sunday, were fixed by Chapala Monday, then went out again temporarily. But on Thursday, signals on the state-controlled Carretera in central Ajijic were dark
Foto: Archivo.
Laguna team. Drivers approaching the intersection of the Libramiento, the Carretera, and the entrance to Walmart Sunday were frustrated to find that none of the SIOP-installed traffic signals were working.
They were functioning again on Tuesday, but other traffic lights on the Carretera went dark two days later in Ajijic. Laguna met with Director of Chapala Movilidad, Geraldo Bautista Mejía to find out what the problem was.
“The Walmart signals stopped working Sunday – something went wrong in the control box, so when SIOP did not fix the problem, on Monday I personally opened the control box and reset them by turning them on and off,” Bautista Mejía told the Laguna team in his office.
He added that he sent an official letter to the SIOP representative for Chapala because the State is currently responsible for controlling the signals, not him, and he cannot continue to reset them because then the state will blame him for any future problems if he does. But as of our interview Tuesday, there had been no response from SIOP.
When asked about the meeting and the tour of the intersection he told Laguna about during our May 20 interview that SIOP had promised him, he said that it has not happened yet and SIOP has not given him a time and date commitment.
Complicating the situation is the fact that his office and SIOP do not agree with the design and construction of the intersection and its traffic signals, and he has refused to sign a document saying Chapala accepts SIOP’s work and can now take over the intersection. He wants the state to correct the problems first. He added that the lights are also not synchronized and he has asked SIOP to come back and synchronize them, but so far no answer.
In the meantime, drivers were dismayed Thursday morning to find that the traffic signals at the two busiest intersections in central Ajijic had stopped functioning. The traffic signals at the Carretera and Calle Juarez and the Carretera and Calle Colon were dark and later in the afternoon, drivers reported that traffic signals on Calle Galeana and the Carretera, where there is an unrepaired damage signal pole , were also not working. SIOP is responsible for the maintenance of the traffic signals on the Carretera.
The Laguna team asked Bautista Mejía if he felt the Walmart intersection will ever be repaired. He said that he wants it fixed and in Chapala’s control before the end of the current administration, October 1. However, he noted that he cannot control the situation as it is still legally in the hands of SIOP.
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