I had to get a taxi from Perejil to the Punta Pacifica Hospital. Used to be, I'd get a cab on Via España and the cabbie would take the first left he or she could, in order to get to one of the points where one might cross Avenida Balboa. But now, Avenida Balboa is a six-lane, one-way street that can't be crossed in a car and is and adventure crossing on foot, as there are no pedestrian bridges.

There is only one entrance to the Cinta Costera, which replaces eastbound Avenida Balboa. So the cabbie went way down Central, took a right to the overpass in Hollywood, went past the Smithsonian's Tupper Center and the legislature, and in that way got on the Cinta Costera's one entrance. We went well over a mile out of our way, compared to the previous route. That's to get on the Cinta Costera. Then, you can't easily go through Paitilla to the hospital anymore, so the cabbie took the long way out to Via Brasil before he turned right. The drive is easily three times as long as before.

But is it less congested? Well compared to the traffic jams when the project was under construction it is, but compared to before the idea of the Cinta Costera was adopted? It's just as congested now as when the project started.