After 30 Years the San José – Caldera Highway Opens This Week
January 25th, 2010 | by admin |This coming week will be a dream come true for many Costa Ricans, a dream that has taken more than 30 years and many administrations to make a reality. We are talking about the San José – Caldera route, a road of decades in the making, that officially opens on Wednesday, January 27.
The new rout will shave off about 45 minutes or more from all destinations to and from the Pacific coast.
The idea began in the late 70′s when it was first proposed to cut a route through the mountains of Puriscal and Atenas to the get to the Pacific ocean in less than an hour.
The new highway not only does that, but makes the drive even pleasant.
Currently, to reach the Pacific coast of Caldera/Puntarenas there are two main routes: the Interamericana and the “Aguacate”.
Both routes mean climbing to the summit of a mountain and then dropping to sea level. Both routes are only two lane highways that are clogged with heavy truck and bus traffic, with the average speed climbing and descending the mountains of between 20 km/h and 50 km/h, and requiring the heavy use of brakes and/or engine compression to slow down the steep descent, especially that of the Aguacate.
The new road cuts through the valley and with speeds of between 80 km/h and 100 km/h, depending on the section and with no steep hills or mountains to climb or descend.
The new route, Santa Ana (Piedades) to Orotina takes about 20 minutes, with no mountains or hills to climb. So, to Jacó or Puntarenas, the total time is about an hour.
The new route will be expensive for some, as it is a toll road. The total cost, one way from San José to Orotina is ¢1.930 colones for a light passenger vehicle. Buses, mini vans and heavy trucks will pay double or more. The cost of using the Interamericana is only ¢150 colones (toll paid only en route to San José) and ¢480 each way to Jacó/Caldera.
The tolls are at Escazú, San Rafael de Alajuela, Atenas and Pozón. For the time being the tolls at La Guacima and Cuidad Colón (Piedades de Santa Ana) will not be charged as yet, as the government decides on an action following complaints of local residents.
In addition to those two destinations points, destinations like Quepos/Manuel Antonio will be under 2 hours, Liberia will be only 2 1/2 hours, and take off 45 minutes from any of the Guanacaste beach destinations.
Although the new road opens in a few days, there is still much to complete.
You may want to make sure to fill up your gas tank before you leave for the beach because the 40 kilometre route between Santa Ana and Orotina still has no services like gas stations, hotels, sodas or restaurants.
