Highway to Oaxaca: 1/31/22

WE HAVE BEEN REPORTING ON THE 104 KM TOLL-ROAD (autopista) that will connect highway 200, in Ventanilla, Colotepec, to Barranca Larga, Ejutla on highway 175 for 12 years. When it is completed we will be able to drive directly from Puerto Escondido to Oaxaca in less than three hours. We thought it would never be completed. Now I’m betting it will, God willing, be open in a year.

You can now drive through the Santa Martha tunnel that connects Sta. Maria Colotepec with San Antonio Lalana. You can also drive through the San Antonio tunnel, 11 kms to the north. What you cannot do, however, is drive directly from Ventanilla to San Antonio.

The Colotepec bridge, the longest on the highway, has lost its roadway, and the Pita bridge, seven kms from Ventanilla, is just starting to be rebuilt. Either the original structures built by ICA were inadequate or they fell victim to almost four years of abandonment, after ICA gave up its concession in 2015. (Think of a half-built, deserted house left to the elements and you get the picture.)

Even the paved road leading to the entrance to the Santa Martha tunnel had to be dug up. Now you can only approach it with 4-wheel drive. So we rented a Jeep Wrangler from Los Tres Reyes. Fortunately, Ernesto J. Torres, loves driving over rocks and on narrow cliff-side roads.

There are plenty of detours on the way to the San Antonio tunnel, notably where the Atotonilco and Comitlán bridges are under construction. But the tunnel is completed. After that, there is more ongoing construction and detours, until we reached the San Sebastian tunnel, the third and last of the project.

A little bit of history: The heavily forested, uninhabited mountains at the middle of the highway have been contested by the Bienes Comunales of San Sebastián Coatlán and that of San Pedro Coatlán from the very beginning of the project. For this reason, ICA was never able to work there. The problem seemed as unsurmountable as the mountains, until Banobras, the National Development Bank, took over the highway construction.

We had to back track, and take service roads, from the San Sebastian tunnel to the town of San Sebastian, 8 kms to the west. From there we had to take another road from San Sebastián to San Pablo. Both roads are paved. We were told by workers on the site that the road from San Pablo to Barranca Larga was easy and direct. Compared to other construction sites, perhaps, but still with many detours.

We witnessed construction going on in all sections of the highway. We also noted that there are light fixtures that would indicate night time work. The goal now is for highway completion by August, 2022. I’d be happy if it was done in early 2023.

Besides the boost it will give to Oaxaca tourism – pyramids in the morning, the beach in the afternoon – it will be of tremendous advantage for people living on the coast. Cattle breeders will be able to transport their stock directly to the Oaxaca cattle market, people will have access to more advanced and cheaper medical service, retail prices should go down making it more competitive with Oaxaca, and we will have fiberoptic internet service coming through a buried trench alongside the highway, connecting us directly to Oaxaca and Puebla.

VP34 Contents