Highway to Oaxaca 9/27/23

The 104 km toll road will connect highway 200 at Ventanilla, Colotepec to highway 175 at Barranca Larga, Ejutla, cutting the travel time from Puerto Escondido to Oaxaca to under three hours. Construction began in 2007, but there were years in which no work was done at all, as the first contractor went bankrupt with the international financial crisis, and the second also faced insolvency for reasons unrelated to the highway. Now the project is in the hands of Banobras, the federal infrastructure development bank, which has contracted out the construction to various builders. Throughout the years the project has suffered many delays because of conflicts between the communities along the route.

WHAT CAN YOU SAY? PROGRESS IS BEING MADE, BUT not at the rate needed to complete the project in the foreseeable future. We went from the Colotepec bridge (finally open) to the San Sebastian tunnel (still far from completion after almost two years of work), on September 27, 2023.

Mostly the problem is with the rock formations on both sides of the roadway. But now a good part of the roadway is paved, the bridges done, and there are no detours until you reach the San Sebastián tunnel. You may or may not (the rules keep changing), use the road on weekends, from 2 pm on Saturdays, when no construction is being done. Otherwise, transit is prohibited by the Guardia Nacional.

In other news, no work is being done at this time on the much touted airport expansion, which will extend the runways to allow international flights.

VP38 Contents