As anticipated and predicted in this newspaper last month, Mexico’s Ministry of Transportation, Communications and Infrastructure (SCIT) inaugurated the long-awaited Compostela-Las Varas section of the autopista linking Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta.
The new 32-kilometer stretch provides a safer and quicker alternative to the dangerous federal highway — colloquially known as “Las Curvas” (The Curves) — connecting the two Nayarit towns. The SCIT says the new road cuts around 30 minutes off the mountainous drive, reducing the Compostela-Las Varas stretch to 20 minutes.
The highway opening came on Wednesday, March 27, a day before the four-day Holy Thursday through Easter Sunday break, considered the busiest period of the year for traffic heading to Mexico’s beach resorts.
For the time being at least, federal authorities will not charge motorists for using this complicated stretch of road, which took almost a decade to finish, mostly due to contractual conflicts between constructors and the federal government.
The road passes through stunning scenery, with the most significant engineering achievement being the 433-meter-long “Las Truchas” bridge, which has an elevation of 75 meters.
The opening ceremony for the new road was low-key, given the restrictions in place on “government publicity” during the current election campaigns. Nonetheless, commenting on the new road, Nayarit Governor Miguel Ángel Navarro said it is “synonymous with (the state’s) tangible transformation and progress.”