Moya-Odebrecht is making progress on the construction of the El Coral Highway linking La Romana to Punta Cana. The highway continues east from the current four-lane San Pedro de La Romana Highway. As reported in Casa de Campo News, the La Romana by-pass was initially planned as a two-lane highway and has now been expanded to a four-lane, 16km long lighted highway with three traffic exchanges and two bridges. It is scheduled for completion in September 2012.
The bypass, now located three and a half kilometers further west of La Romana, is the final link along the 223km eastern corridor that will drastically reduce travel time to and from Santo Domingo. It is estimated to cut travel time from Santo Domingo to La Romana to just over an hour, making it feasible for people to live in La Romana and commute to Santo Domingo for work. The new 70km highway will be a toll road, as reported.