Mid Feburary Road report

Road Report for mid February, 2011 This report covers Mexico Highway 1 from the Rosarito Beach/Puerto Nuevo area to La Paz, BCS, and was done in a Jeep Liberty towing a 17’ Casita travel trailer. The combination of a short wheelbase tow vehicle and a short trailer on the undulating highway provided an abundance of bounce per kilometer and affected my perception of road conditions, not to mention my comfort as well as that of my wife. The first significant problem, as reported by others, is no longer a problem since the road construction in the hills south of Maneadero is nearly finished, fully repaved in the southbound lanes, and as smooth as glass. Lane striping had not begun as of Feb. 12. In the mountains between Lázaro Cárdenas and El Rosario there is a short (1/2-mile)rough dirt detour due to road construction. South of Catavińa, in the vicinity of San Martin, the road becomes quite rough with hundreds of shallow potholes until reaching approximately Km 203. From Km 203 to Km 215, the potholes pretty much disappear, but it is still rough. Once past Km 215 the road returns to normal and improves considerably around Km 221. And that’s all the bad there is to report! Having last driven the highway in 1990, I found much to be grateful for, as it is apparent that the government is spending a lot of money to improve the highway by widening, repaving, and building bridges where none used to exist but should have. Concrete bridges are being built at all major vados, in sharp contrast with the past, and the detours are paved! But those bridges are a major contributor to highway bounce, because each section of the several it may take to cross a vado, is made with an upward curve where the middle is higher than the ends. Depending on your speed, this provides an undulating surface and significant oscillations. 80 to 90 Kph provided exactly that for our car and trailer combination. Happy travels, Don Neilson