DR-3 (Dominican Republic highway)

DR-3
DR-3
Expreso 27 de Febrero; Expreso de las Americas; Autopista De las Americas; Autovia del Este; Autopista El Coral
Major junctions
West end	Plaza de la Bandera, San Rafael Del Yuma, DR
Location
Country	Dominican Republic
Major cities	Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo Este, Boca Chica, San Pedro de Macorís, San Rafael del Yuma, La Romana,
Highway system
	Highways in the Dominican Republic;

DR-3 is one of three main

Bayahibe, Bávaro, and Punta Cana

. DR-3 has been part of a long program to improve, expand, and modernize the highways of the Republic. Most of DR-3 has been expanded to two or three lanes of traffic each way.

*Expreso 27 de Febrero* Tunnel in Downtown Santo Domingo (Distrito Nacional)

Route description

DR-3 is called by different names from its western terminus in Plaza de la Bandera,

DR-4 it connects the east with the metropolitan area

of Santo Domingo.

Expreso 27 de Febrero/Expreso de las Americas

At the Plaza de la Bandera, DR-3 begins its run named Expreso 27 de Febrero through the

T-interchange and a tunnel were completed at the Ortega y Gasset avenue in 2011.^[1] It then continues its route east, also intersecting Maximo Gomez avenue, the main north–south thoroughfare of the city. The corridor continues east of downtown via the use of a single long grade-separated viaduct with exits that connect the expreso with the southern borders of working-class neighborhoods such as Miraflores, Villa Consuelo, and Mejoramiento Social. The viaduct continues above the San Martin, Juan Pablo Duarte, and Josefa Brea avenues of the city until its end in the Ozama River. As it reaches the border of the Distrito Nacional it crosses the Ozama River

via the Juan Pablo Duarte and Prof. Juan Bosch bridges.

DR-3 continues through

beltway of the city. Expreso de Las Américas serves as the main urban corridor of Santo Domingo Este and serves as a rapid connection to Downtown and the Distrito Nacional

where most of the jobs of the city are located.

Autopista de las Américas

After exiting the municipality of Santo Domingo Este, the highway becomes a limited-access highway and runs parallel to the Caribbean Sea with six lanes of highway and a two-way, four-lane service road on the north side. The highway also contains modern service stops in the median constructed for the 2003 Pan American Games. It provides a fast connection to Las Américas International Airport, the main airport serving Santo Domingo. Only 15 kilometers east of Greater Santo Domingo there is a toll booth for those entering the airport and traveling outside the bounds of the area. This section of the highway is one of the best in the country in terms of quality and has been improved several times since the 2003 Pan American Games. The portion from Santo Domingo Este to here is also the only true limited-access highway in the country as it contains an actual service road which allows faster traveling speeds for motorists. This portion of DR-3 (specifically when traveling eastbound) is also very dangerous due to its proximity to the Caribbean Sea, and has been the cause of many fatal slip-off accidents; this problem is yet to be addressed by the Dominican authorities.

Autovia del Este

East of the airport the highway bisects the beach towns of

DR-4. Local routes continue eastward and provide a connection to the internationally renowned tourist towns of Punta Cana and Bávaro located in the eastern extremes. The highway connects Santo Domingo

to the eastern part of the country with a mere four-hour drive. Many upgrades and expansion plans are designed to improve this highway in the near future; these plans are part of Viadom, a national project to improve national infrastructure.

Recent and future construction

Currently the Ministry of Public Works of

Corredor Duarte, which will finalize the corridor and make it express from Winston Churchill Avenue to the Plaza de la Bandera, which is the only remaining section of the expreso with no grade separation at important intersections. The tunnels were finished in August 2011.^[2]

In Boca Chica, order breaks down due to construction and repairs being done to improve this part of the highway. Many streets of Boca Chica still intersect the highway, greatly reducing travel speed and causing slowdowns and unsafe travel relative to the rest of the highway. The Dominican government is currently trying to resolve this issue by expanding the highway and adding service roads to improve traveling speeds.

In 2002 the Autopista de las Américas was renovated by placing new light bulbs and service stops in the middle of the highway while making it a three-lane expressway. This improvement helped eliminate traffic as it entered the

Greater Santo Domingo Area. After seeing the results of these improvements the government decided to renovate the Autovia Del Este from AILA to San Pedro De Macorís. In 2006, the Dominican government began a project to reroute the highway north of the SPM town to avoid local traffic. As a result, the Mauricio Báez Bridge

was constructed over the Higuamo River. Today, motorists no longer have to pass through the congested city streets of SPM in order to drive to destinations in the east.

In August 2012, the government opened a new four-lane highway named Autopista del Coral which runs non-stop from La Romana to Punta Cana (one of the most popular tourist regions of the country). This section became part of the DR-3 designation as soon as it was opened.^[3]^[4]

The Boulevard del Este project would connect Autopista del Coral from Punta Cana northward to El Macao. It would complete the eastern corridor from Santo Domingo.^[5]

Major intersections

This is a table of distance in kilometers from Santo Domingo, one of the major cities located along the DR-3.

Cities	Major intersections	Distance from Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo	DR-2	0 km, begins here
Santo Domingo Este	DR-4	Approximately 5 km
Boca Chica	--	--
San Pedro de Macorís	DR-Route 102, DR-Local 829	70 km
La Romana	DR-Route 101	110 km
San Rafael del Yuma	DR-4	--, ends here

References

^ "LF inaugura túnel de la 27 de Febrero con Ortega y Gasset". El Nacional (in Spanish). 6 May 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
^ "Inauguran otro túnel en la Av. 27 de Febrero". Hoy Digital. 2011-08-02. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
^ Silvestri, Rebecca (2012-09-27). "Everything you need to know about the new "Autopista del Coral" Highway". Casa de Campo Living. Retrieved 2021-09-28.
^ infoteleantillas (2012-08-07). "Obras Públicas anuncia la inauguración de la autopista del Coral" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-09-28.
^ "Presidente Danilo Medina inaugura Circunvalación La Romana". Mopc.gob.do. 11 December 2013. Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2021-09-28.

[1] "LF inaugura túnel de la 27 de Febrero con Ortega y Gasset". El Nacional (in Spanish). 6 May 2011. Archived from the original on 2021-09-28. Retrieved 2021-09-28.

[2] "Inauguran otro túnel en la Av. 27 de Febrero". Hoy Digital. 2011-08-02. Retrieved 2021-09-28.

[3] Silvestri, Rebecca (2012-09-27). "Everything you need to know about the new "Autopista del Coral" Highway". Casa de Campo Living. Retrieved 2021-09-28.

[4] teleantillas (2012-08-07). "Obras Públicas anuncia la inauguración de la autopista del Coral" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-09-28.

[5] "Presidente Danilo Medina inaugura Circunvalación La Romana". Mopc.gob.do. 11 December 2013. Archived from the original on 2016-10-09. Retrieved 2021-09-28.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e National Highways of the Dominican Republic
National	DR-1 DR-2 DR-3 DR-4 DR-5
Secondary	DR-6 DR-7 DR-8 DR-12 DR-13 DR-17 DR-19 DR-23 DR-28