On Sunday, 6 April 2025, the Ministry of Public Works opened the massive toll plaza at Kilometer 32 of the Duarte Highway that leads to the Cibao and North Coast. The Duarte Highway is the nation’s busiest and most important thoroughfare.
The toll booths are equipped with the latest technology, and EZY pass features as well as cash receptors. The old toll booths at Kilometer 25, on the other side of Pedro Brand, will no longer function.
It will now cost RD$200 to visit Santo Domingo because tolls will be applied in both directions. This does not apply, for instance to the Las Americas Expressway on the south coast. Yet, it is probable the government has plans to continue to instate more charge tolls nationwide in both directions.
According to the head of the RD Highway Trust, Hostos Risik Lugo, the funds generated by the tolls will be used for the continued maintenance of the highway. In addition, the people of the growing town of Pedro Brand will no longer have to pay a toll to go to work in Santo Domingo. The toll, nevertheless, will impact those who live in Villa Altagracia. Protestors complain the toll had already increased from RD$60 to RD$100 earlier this year.
The RD$600 million, 22-lane toll plaza will have 10 lanes exclusively for the “Paso Rapido” (EZY Pass), and12 lanes for cash. However, all 22 lanes will accept the Paso Rapido feature.
It should also be noted that on Holy Thursday and Easter Sunday there will be no tolls collected to ease traffic that week. Easter Week is a peak domestic vacation time.
Read more in Spanish:
El Caribe
Noticias SIN
Listin Diario
7 April 2025