The Cinta Costera is a Success

Panama City's green strip along the bay is finished. The Cinta Costera is a pretty stretch of park and walkway on the Bay of Panama from Costa del Este to Casco Viejo and the Avenida Balboa traffic congestion is gone.Despite a lot of reservations about combining a traffic improvement project with a bayfront park the Cinta Costera seems to have worked out. Traffic is fast and unsnarled along Avenida Balboa and the walkway, bike path, highway overpasses, and communal areas are a great improvement over the previous waterfront.  

 
I skipped the official opening a couple of weeks ago and wanderded down to the bay on a Sunday a month later. On my way down I could not help thinking of the little park on the old bayfront where my wife and I used to sit in the evenings two years ago. It was the same park where then-president Torrijos gave a speech and then they turned the park into a building site, minus the huge old trees.I knew the "feel" of the old bayfront and despite watching them throw rocks into the bay and gradually build up to highways and greenways I did not have a clue about how I would like the new coastal strip.

When I lived near the bay I used to walk along the seawall for exercise, especially early in the morning before the traffic built up on Avendia Balboa. Basically the bayfront was a sidewalk with traffic on one side and a wall with lots of rocks on the other. I did like the idea of fixing the traffic problem, both from trying to cross the non-stop traffic after 5:30 am and trying to navigate the perpertual traffic jams on Avenida Balboa. I not like the idea of my little park going away. So, with old thoughts of mornings watching the sun come up across Panama Bay I walked down to the Cinta Costera on a Sunday at midday.

There were folks strolling but no runners or bikers to be seen. I guess most folks working out had enought sense to start, and end, early. However, a few guys were playing very serious pickup basketball games on two fenced-in courts. There were lots of stands selling cool drinks (a coconut drink and a gatorade were timely and refreshing) as well a nice assortment of attractive crafts for sale.

The walkway and bike path are nice and wide and a great improvement over walking inches from Avenida Balboa traffic. I got a kick out of the benchs, however. I am five feet ten inches tall which makes me taller than the average Panamanian. I sat down on one of the benches shown in the photo and could just see a little water and islands in the distance over the top of  the wall. I am guessing that the average Panamanian couple will need to bring booster seats in order to sit down and enjoy the view of the bay.

I walked opposite the banking district and was impressed by the view of the large buildings to one side and the tranquil bay on the other. It had the feel of a huge amphitheater with the Bay of Panama as the stage. Having this view, minus the whoosh of passing cars and buses, was a treat even though traffic is still pretty close and moving faster than it did on the old stop light limited Avenida Balboa.

The plaza near the cleaned up statue of Mr. Balboa has a nice fountain where couples and families were resting, talking, and taking photos.This is a broad plaza with the same sense of view noted above. There is the modern prosperity of Panama City to the back and the eternal bay to the front. Also there is a nice view of Casco Viejo to the right and the highrises of Punta Paitilla to the left.

 I like the "feel" of the part of the new coastal strip I visited near the banking district. It certainly is an improvement over the old sidewalk with traffic at your elbow even if a park or two got bulldozed along the way. Getting onto the Cinta Costera from the city was easy. There are crosswalks with stop lights for the first line of traffic, the old Avenida Balboa, and then overpasses about every six blocks to cross over the fast moving traffic on the new road.

My sense of the place is that it is already replacing the old area around the statue of Balboa as a social center, a biking and running path, and a place for families and lovers to stroll. If you spend a day or two in the city drop by the Cinta Costera in the morning or evening for a stroll and to enjoy the view.  If you go midday as I did bring sunscreen and money for soft drinks. The walkway, by the way is lighted if you want to walk along the bay after sundown.

It looks to me like the Cinta Costera worked out pretty well. I left with plans for inviting my wife to return with me for a stroll along the seawall some evening.