First guests via the Santo Domingo-Samana Highway

[Andy B]

Although reporting that it is still an unpaved dirt road in bad condition best traversed by a SUV in places, our first guests using the new highway have arrived. It took them a little over 2 hours to drive up from SD to where the highway intersects the north coast highway just west of the airport at el Catey and then another hour out to us in Las Galeras. The bridges over the rivers have also been completed and our guests say that when finished they will be able to make the trip from SD to LG in about 2 hours or a little more.

[bryanb]

Andy - Not to sound dumb, but how long did it take them before to get to Las Galeras?

BTW - If I'd know you were located in Las Galeras I'd have tried to meet you in Feburary when I was at Casa Marina Bay.

Thanks for all the informative posts you put up.

[Andy B]

They left their home in Santo Domingo about 9:30am and were here in LG by 1pm, about an hour less than it takes via the regular route (4-1/2hrs). Figure it took them 1/2 hour to get from their house out to where the highway starts out near the SD international airport. It's going to be a real boon when the highway is finished the end of this year. My guests also said that the construction crews they saw were hard at work today.

[CG-LT]

Hello Andy,

Could you give a bit more info on the actual state of the new road,
Have to go to Sanchez from the Capital and thought I might try, what about all the rain today here on the peninsula, think it could make it impassable ??.

Any input from you would be greatly appreciated !

A nice evening to you and to all on the board.

CG

[Andy B]

The condition of the road is of one under construction with a lot of men and equipment working. Many parts of it have only the raw base left after it was cut with a grader, not filled and compacted at all and passable only with 4wd in low range. On much of the road about 20mph is possible. And my guests also reported that they almost didn't get through as they were going to be turned back because equipment was blocking the road. However, the construction guys relented and let them pass.
To be honest, I wouldn't try it without a 4WD with high road clearance for a while, especially after all the recent rains. Give it another 3 months at least.

[Don Juan]

Isn't this to be a toll road? When is it scheduled to be 100% finished? Is this the road that traverses a beautiful, recently built bridge that cost double the bucks projected by the Gov?

[domicanita]

Andy,
Thank you so much for the information. Our family will be going to Las Terrenas on December 18th. do you have any idea if it will be finished by then.

[DavidM]

Thanks for the update. This road's status is very important to which airport I fly into on my next trip to the DR

[Andy B]

Originally Posted by DavidM

Thanks for the update. This road's status is very important to which airport I fly into on my next trip to the DR

David and Dominicanita,
Your guess is as good as mine as to when it will be open however I heard that Leonel wants to highlight this as one of his administration's accomplishments sothat guarantees it will be open before the next election. Hopefully it will be sometime before the first of the year as previously stated.

[aegap]

Bear Stearns:

Autopistas del Nordeste – Expect Early Completion – Additional Project in the Pipeline
Our meeting with Autopistas del Nordeste (AdN) was very encouraging and featured some interesting updates. AdN is responsible for constructing a 106-km toll road between Santo Domingo and the peninsula of Samaná under a 33-year concession granted by the Dominican government. ...

We were pleased to hear from management that the project is moving ahead of schedule and the company expects that construction will be finished three months early (January 2008 vs. May as originally projected). Additionally, tourism-based development in the northern end of the highway in Samaná is expected to spur an increase of traffic flows on the highway, and therefore higher revenues. Finally, we expect that AdN will be contracted to upgrade and develop an additional section of highway – this is just awaiting governmental approval, expected in the first or second week of March. ..