Carretera Central (Puerto Rico)
| Highway Carretera Central | |
|---|---|
 PR-1  PR-14La Piquiña |
|
| Route information | |
| Maintained by Puerto Rico Dept. of Transportation and Public Works (DTOP) | |
| Length: | 134 km (83 mi) |
| Existed: | 1898 – present |
| Major junctions | |
| North end: |
 PR-1 in San Juan
|
| South end: |
 PR-2 in Ponce
|
| Highway system | |
| Puerto Rico Highways | |
The Carretera Central is a historic north–south central highway in Puerto Rico, linking the cities of San Juan and Ponce by way of Rio Piedras, Caguas, Cayey, Aibonito, Coamo, and Juana Diaz. Plans for the road started in the first half of the 19th century, and the road was fully completed in 1898.
The highway runs from the north coast city of San Juan to the south coast city of Ponce via Rio Piedras, Caguas, Cayey, Aibonito, Coamo, and Juana Diaz. The highway corridor is now signed as Puerto Rico Highway 14 from Ponce to Cayey, and as Puerto Rico Highway 1 from Cayey to San Juan.
In the 1820s, the Spanish colonial government in Puerto Rico, under the direction of Governor Miguel de la Torre took the first steps for building a highway connecting the towns of San Juan and Rio Piedras and incorporating temporary wooden bridges for river crossings.
During the 1830s an unpaved wagon road was built linking Ponce, Juana Diaz and Coamo to satisfy the commercial sugar production needs of that area. In 1846 a new masonry bridge was built by Spanish engineer Santiago Cortijo to connect the capital city island of San Juan with the rest of the Puerto Rico mainland. Meanwhile, construction of a 41-kilometer macadam highway between San Juan and Caguas, designed by Colonel engineer Diego Galvez, was begun. Construction of the San Juan-Caguas span was first under the direction of Colonel Tulio O'Neill and was later completed, in 1853, under Commander Santiago Cortijo. After the completion of the bridge over the Rio Piedras river in 1853, the construction project completed bridges over Quebrada Frailes in 1855, the Concepcion bridge over Caguas's Rio Cañas in 1856, and the bridge over the Caguas's Cagüitas River in 1857.
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Wikipedia