1500 meters is all that’s left to complete the Costanera Sur, the coastal highway that was begun in 1962 and that stretches from Puntarenas to Palmar Norte, a distance of 280 kilometers.  It is Costa Rica’s only legitimate coastal highway.  The most troubling spot has been the stretch from Quepos to Baru.  A stretch of 42 kilometers that has remained unpaved for decades….until now.  I can remember the days of having to actually cross “bridgeless” rivers in order to arrive to Dominical.  Back then that short 42 kilometer (or 26 mile) trip could take you two hours or more.  Well, it is almost completed and will be the final missing link to complete the full breadth of the Costanera.  The only thing left is the bridge over the Rio Perla and a little 1500 meter segment that the government is having problems appropriating sufficient land to complete.  That’s because foreigners have been buying up land in the area in anticipation of the road being completed and thus most are absent landowners that the Costa Rican government is having a hard time bargaining with.  However, officials with MOPT (Costa Rica’s Agency for Public Works) assures that this final segment will be completed this year, around April to be exact, missing the previous deadline of December 2009 by four months.  That’s not bad since we all have been waiting 48 years for the Costanera to be a done deal.  Travel in Costa Rica just keeps getting better thanks to Oscar Arias, who by the way will inaugurate eight new bridges, as well as the Costanera itself, this week, in the closing moments of his administration.  Hopefully the solid progress in Costa Rican infrastructure will continue with the next administration.

Link to Article in La Nacion

I can remember hearing about this new “superhighway” from San Jose to Puntarenas from the very first time I set foot on Costa Rican soil.  Well the ticos have been hearing the same thing for the last 32 years.  It is not surprising that in the last few years folks grew a bit skeptical about the whole thing.  Well now all that is history because the road is completed AND, believe it or not, five months ahead of the scheduled June 2010 deadline.  While it may not be quite the caliber of the Florida Turnpike, the new highway will be pretty super compared to most now receiving traffic in Costa Rica.  So super in fact that the government has stuck its neck out and ”guaranteed” 45 minutes savings on the drive time between San Jose and Caldera. It should also cut the drive time to Jaco and beaches further south along the Costanera by an equal amount.  The average speed is estimated to be between 80 and 100 kph…and that is traveling pretty fast when it comes to Costa Rican roads (the old route had an average speed of around 30 kph).  All this comes at a pretty steep cost, about $250,000 million to be exact.  To recoup that there will be five tolls that will cost the typical car (a so-called “vehiculo liviano”) just under $3.50 using today’s exchange rate.  But one thing’s for sure, the drive to Jaco will be a lot safer than the old Monte de Aguacate route with its narrow lanes, hairpin turns and stomach churning precipices.  Probably won’t be nearly as scenic though…of course, gawking at the “scenery” is what almost got me killed several times traversing that old stretch of road.

Link to Article in La Nacion

Link to Diagram of Route