Jul 142010
 

Source: SCT press release (14 July 2010) with additional details based on press reports

Tamaulipas

Most highways (including Ciudad Victoria-Matamoros, Tampico-Ciudad Victoria, Ciudad Victoria-Monterrey and Ciudad Victoria-Soto la Marina) have been cleared and reopened.

Exceptions:
1. Reynosa-Matamoros: the free road is open, but the toll highway is still closed. This highway will be inspected and repaired once flood water recedes, but repair work is estimated to require 5 or 6 days.

2. Further west, the Ciudad Mier-Nuevo Laredo road (Hwy 2) is still closed.

Nuevo León

The Saltillo-Monterrey toll road has been reopened.

The Monterrey-Nuevo Laredo toll road has now opened, but only for commercial truck traffic and passenger buses; the free road will remain closed for several days more.

Bridge repairs close to Ciudad Anahuac, one of the worst affected areas, have been completed, restoring road communication from Ciudad Anahuac to Nuevo Laredo.

Monterrey–Reynosa toll road (Hwy 40D)- open.

Linares-San Roberto (Hwy 31) road – closed (Alternative route is via Monterrey)

Ciudad Victoria-Monterrey highway (Hwy 85). Repairs continuing on the by-pass to Montemorelos (traffic being redirected through the town); expected to remain closed for several more days.

Coahuila

Puerto-México-Carbonera Highway – open, but limited to one-lane in places; expected to be fully operational by 26 July.

Morelos-Ciudad Acuña (Hwy 29): still closed pending bridge repairs.

Frausto-Paredón-Monterrey (this road links Hwy 57 to the western outskirts of Monterrey)- to be partially opened shortly, with a dirt road detour to avoid a damaged bridge.

Drivers are urged to use extreme caution on highways in all these areas and to drive within the posted speed limits.

It is clear that highway crews have done an amazing job of re-establishing most of the area’s critical highway links even though the flood waters have not yet receded. It will still take many many days before the backlog of 20,000 large trucks currently stranded in Nuevo Laredo can all reach their destinations further south.

150 inter-city buses are also stranded in Nuevo Laredo.

It will also take several days before the normal supply routes to stock Nuevo Laredo’s stores, supermarkets and markets with fresh produce will be back to normal.

Previous hurricane-related posts:

Hurricane Alex, 30 June – 1 July 2010

Hurricanes and other climatological phenomena are analyzed in chapters 4 and 7 of Geo-Mexico: the geography and dynamics of modern Mexico. Buy your copy today, so you have a handy reference guide available whenever you need it.

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