07062014Sun
Last updateFri, 04 Jul 2014 2pm

Short route to Vallarta still a long way off

Travelers will be able to drive from Guadalajara to Puerto Vallarta in less than three hours but not until the end of 2016.

The eagerly anticipated four-lane highway reducing car journey from the metro area to Puerto Vallarta from around four to 2.5 hours will not be finished in its entirety for at least another three years, according to Bernardo Gutierrez, the Jalisco delegate for the Communications and Transportation Secretariat (SCT).

Since work began in 2012, 40 kilometers of the highway have been completed from its start point on the Guadalajara-Tepic autopista at Jara, Nayarit.  Another 15 kilometers, plus a ten-kilometer stretch to Compostela, will be completed this year, Gutierrez confirmed.

2015 will see completion of the stretch from Compostela to Las Varas, while the final legs to La Peñita de Jaltemba, Lo de Marcos and Bucerias are programmed for 2016.

The Vía Corta, as the project is usually referred to, will run 160 kilometers.  The idea to build a highway to reduce journey time from Guadalajara to Vallarta was first raised in the 1970s. Successive state governments have failed to deliver on promises to undertake the project.