Minister of Public Works Miguel Vargas Maldonado announced yesterday the government’s plans to build the Coral Highway linking eastern tourism destinations. The new highway would link the tourist areas in San Pedro de Macoris (Juan Dolio and Guayacanes), La Romana (La Romana, Bayahibe and Dominicus), with the city of Higuey and with Veron (cross point for Punta Cana, Macao, Uvero Alto, Bavaro destinations) in the province of La Altagracia. The highway has a budgeted cost of RD$3,921 million. Engineers Miguel Angel Logroño and Pedro Delgado Malagon, director of Planning, Programming and Investments of the Public Works Ministry, presented the technical details of the highway. Delgado also presides Inarsa Tecno-America, the firm that designed the project, as reported by El Siglo. The original highway drawn up during the Fernandez administration had projected reducing the travel time from Santo Domingo to Veron to about an hour’s drive as it was drawn in a straight line, passing north of La Romana. The new route is now 165 kilometers, or an approximate two-hour drive from Santo Domingo. The new highway route requires the following constructions: Completion of the construction of the San Pedro de Macoris bypass highway (13.1 kms.) Expansion to four lanes of the San Pedro de Macoris-La Romana highway (35.2 kms.) Completion of the construction of the La Romana bypass highway (13.7 kms.) Design and construction of the stretch of the highway from La Romana-Higuey (29 kms.) Construction of the stretch of the Higuey highway to Veron as per the original project (33 kms.) (29 June 2001)
