Author: Natalia Trujillo Varela
The underground passage will be enabled next week, but only during the presentation of an art exhibition.
The pedestrian tunnel on Bolívar Avenue that crosses North 18th Street in front of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Armenia remains closed. Since its construction 27 years ago in 1997, it has presented difficulties, but in 2021 it was intervened by the company Amable as part of the complementary works of the construction of the Whereabouts with Public Space, but it was not enabled pending what Goods and Supplies of the mayor’s office assumed the administration of the property. This year, it was reported that Corportura would be in charge of opening the tunnel occasionally for artistic exhibitions, however, it has been remodeled to facilitate the crossing of pedestrians.
In this regard, the Department of Goods and Supplies of the Mayor’s Office of Armenia mentioned that a process is being carried out in which it seeks to integrate private security so that this crossing is always at the service of pedestrians.
It is worth remembering that in 1998, just a year after its construction, it only operated for a few months and at the end of the year in question it was closed. By 1999, the year in which the Armenia earthquake occurred, the underground passage survived the earthquakes of the earth and did not suffer any damage.
Twelve years, general maintenance and installation of lighting and security cameras was carried out and the passage was adapted during the day, with closings at 6 pm, however, for some time now there is no one to be in charge of opening and closing. of the passage at night. Javier Díaz, a merchant who has been selling gum, cigarettes and minutes in this area for more than 49 years, said that it is normally full of garbage and food waste and even human excrement and urine.
“Before they installed the bars in front of the separator, traffic accidents occurred daily with people of all ages, since Amable installed the bars we have not seen any more accidents, but if an accident were to happen and someone becomes disabled, that person can sue the municipality because the tunnel must be enabled for pedestrian crossing by pregnant women, older adults, people with physical disabilities who use wheelchairs and crutches, now you have to go up to the traffic light or make the crossing that is on the corner of the bakery and many times the cars do not have the culture of stopping and taking the step,” Díaz said.
Lidia Agudelo González is a salesperson who has been located at the entrance to the tunnel for a year. She said that there are people who frequently need to use the pedestrian crossing. “Eight days ago they came to clean and clean, they swept and washed, but there is garbage again and every day before I settle in to sell my things I have to clean my space because this here sometimes smells very ugly, just to tell you “In that cleanup they took out two bags of garbage,” said Agudelo González.
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SHOWROOM
Linking Corpocultura so that, through artistic activities, the tunnel is given light, was an alternative presented by the current municipal administration. Diana María Giraldo, director of this corporation, explained that this space will open to the public next week thanks to an agreement with the University of Quindío, with the Visual Arts program so that students who are going to present their degree projects can exhibit their works there and the space is opened with a guided tour to appreciate the works. “That is what was initially planned. Next week we plan to carry out the first exhibition with a student who is going to graduate, and the student together with the university
“They inspected the place and they already set it up, we just need to open it and announce the schedules so that people can go,” Giraldo said. However, the director said that the art gallery exhibition would only last a few days, after the event the passage through the tunnel would be closed again and it would be disabled again, she said. “The idea is to enable the pedestrian crossing, but there we would need the assistance of the Administrative Department of Goods and Supplies to have surveillance but for the moment what we proposed is to use the space as a cultural environment but not as the crossing for people, but it is still as a cultural space, we will see what other activities we can alternate with the university.”
MAINTENANCE AND SURVEILLANCE
José Arley Herrera Gaviria, director of the Administrative Department of Goods and Supplies of the mayor’s office, stated that they are thinking about creating an articulated work together with the Government Secretariat so that some officials can help with the surveillance of the tunnel and they hope to manage approximately 26 millions of pesos for maintenance and surveillance at both entry and exit points of the tunnel, and thus have a clear plan to definitively enable the pedestrian crossing. It is worth noting that this proposal has been on the table since the last government period and has not yet been finalized. Also, meetings are expected to be held with the Armenian Urban Development Company, Edua, and Corpocultura to discuss beautifying the literary whereabouts and the tunnel.
