The first section of Guadalajara’s Macrolibramiento (outer city ring road) is now in operation, linking the Chapala-Guadalajara highway with the autopista to Zaptolanejo, Lagos de Moreno, San Luis Potosi and many points north.
Travelers from the Chapala area can join the four-lane toll road a kilometer before the turnoff to Azequita and La Barca.
The cost for private vehicles to use the 25-kilometer stretch is 44 pesos.
The rest of the 111-kilometer highway will be completed some time next year, according to the Transportation and Communications Secretariat (SCT). It will run all the way to the Guadalajara-Tepic autopista, crossing both Highway 70 to Colima and Highway 80 to Ameca on its path.
Construction of the highway has been carried out with full regard for maintaining the ecological integrity of the zone, officials from the federal Environment Secretariat (Semarnat) said this week.
More than 220,000 new trees have been planted to more than compensate for any uprooted in the construction of the road, the agency said. In addition, around 100 wildlife crossings will be built where the highway skirts around the periphery of the Primavera Forest.