Traffic in the microcenter of Ciudad del Este collapsed once again this Friday, with queues stretching for kilometers and waits of up to three hours to cross the Friendship Bridge into Brazil. The congestion paralyzed main avenues such as the PY02 and Monseñor Rodríguez, with drivers facing a chaotic scene.
According to Leonardo Roa, director of the city's Municipal Traffic Police (PMT), the origin of the problem is not on the Paraguayan side, but rather in the strict customs controls jointly conducted by the Paraguayan Customs and, primarily, by the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service. "We practically suffer the consequences on this side of the country, because the controls are much stricter," stated Roa, highlighting that only one inbound lane was being cleared by the Brazilian authority.
The director lamented that the public holds the municipality responsible for a situation over which it has no decision-making power. "We do not have international relations to decide how they will operate. We solely organize the traffic on this side," he emphasized. He also pointed out that driver impatience and lack of tolerance at intersections worsen the problem, requiring constant intervention by officers to unblock the flow.
Beyond the fiscal operation, Roa acknowledged a structural problem: the commercial and touristic growth of Ciudad del Este has surpassed the road capacity planned decades ago. "The microcenter was planned many years ago and surely no one imagined this would be a boom. The avenues and streets are short for the volume of vehicles they support today," he explained. He warned that pressure on the infrastructure is set to increase even further with the anticipated opening of new large commercial ventures in the city.
As long as the joint inspection operations continue, the scenario of severe congestion is likely to repeat, especially on days of heavy cross-border movement. The PMT continues to manage the flow to the bridge access points, but a definitive solution depends on binational coordination and adaptations to the urban infrastructure.