Exodus from Buenos Aires to the Atlantic begins

Translated by Brian Schwarz

Originally published Thursday December 31, 2009 in "Pagina/12" of Buenos Aires, Argentina (pagina12.com.ar) under the heading Comenzó el éxodo a la costa atlántica

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA - By 8:00 a.m. today some 70 cars per minute were passing by the vehicular control post at kilometer 32 of the Gutiérrez spur of the Buenos Aires-La Plata expressway heading to state highway 2 and onward to the Atlantic coast.

“Fortunately, for the moment there haven’t been any accidents", said chief officer José Ruiz of the Buenos Aires highway patrol.

"Overall, traffic is flowing, and the only congestion is at the 20 kilometer marker of the Buenos Aires-La Plata expressway, in Quilmes”, he added.

Ruiz recalled that “during the whole day yesterday there was a great movement of vehicles heading toward the coast that only tapered off around midnight, but [this morning] between 4:30 and 5:00 it started to increase again”.