Daily traffic bottlenecks at the Route 66 exit in Río Grande, Puerto Rico, will persist because construction of an elevated-access project on highway PR-3 won’t begin until 2028, senator Héctor Joaquín Sánchez said Tuesday. The project, announced in 2024 by former governor Pedro Pierluisi, is still in the design and permitting phase, which must finish in 2027 before construction starts.
Sánchez, author of a resolution to investigate the project’s progress, said funds were assigned about three years ago and the design is due in October, calling the pace "a bit frustrating" given the urgency for mobility and economic development. The plan calls for elevated accesses at PR-3’s three traffic lights in Río Grande, reaching El Yunque’s entrance and the Wyndham Grand Río Mar hotel, after a proposed PR-66 extension was rejected over environmental impact.
Sánchez noted the Federal Highway Administration rates this PR-3 stretch between D and F, the most critical congestion levels, and warned that development tied to the former Roosevelt Roads base in Ceiba will worsen congestion without the project. The information emerged during a hearing of the Senate Transportation, Telecommunications, Public Services and Consumer Affairs Committee, chaired by Sánchez, with officials from DTOP (the Department of Transportation and Public Works), the ACT, and the design firm participating.