Honduras Highway Update 2018

I’ve been on the road lately… I went to Trujillo on Tuesday and came back to La Ceiba on Wednesday. Today I am in San Pedro Sula and hope to be back home tonight. Last week, I was in the Bay Islands, Utila and Roatan. The week before that I was in Tegucigalpa and then drove to the south coast, to the city of Choluteca. There I lived the experience of releasing baby turtles and navigating through mangrove canals.

So I guess that you can say that I can provide you a quick assessment and comments the status of highways in Honduras! Here is my Honduras highway update 2018:

I already posted an article about the CA5 highway between Tegucigalpa and Choluteca, so I will skip repeating myself on it. Getting to the Bay Islands requires maritime transportation more that highway travel. However, I must say that the previous time I was in Roatan, earlier this year, the island roads were an absolute mess! Driving a car was more like dealing with an obstacle course. This is far from true today.

I drove throughout the island and I can say that the West End of the island, as cell as the middle section of the island have highways that are greatly improved. Unfortunately, the East Side of the Island still needs some work on their asphalt highway. However, the dirt road between Oakridge and Paya Bay was in good condition despite all the rains in Early October.

The CA13 highway between La Ceiba and Trujillo was better that I expected it to be. Last year it was a complete disaster, but it has been patched up. This is not a high speed highway, but at least there are not many potholes. Instead, there are many speedbumps along the road. Communities love to build next to the highways. Then they complain traffic passes next to them at fast speeds. Well of course! This is a highway after all, isn’t it? So, they take matters in their own hands and ruin a good highway by putting speed bumps all along the highway. I think the only good to them is that if you are sleepy, a speed bump will wake you up in a hurry!

We took advantage and stopped in Tocoa, abouth halfways between these cities at a roadside restaurant that was pretty good. The restaurant is called Maura’s and has air conditioning, which is imperative in Tocoa. Food was good, service acceptable and prices fair. If you need to stop for a bite and want clean restrooms, this is your best alternative in Tocoa. It is right on the CA13 highway, across the street from a mini soccer court that you can’t miss. It will be on your right side if heading east towards Trujillo.

The CA13 between La Ceiba and Tela is pretty good shape. Although there were a few potholes, the maintenance crew was working to patch the highway up. The one drawback with this road, which applies to Trujillo also is the lack of road signs. There are no white or yellow lines on the road, which makes it very hard to drive at night. This is the reason why I always discourage driving after dark in Honduras. The one exception to this is the CA5 highway between Choluteca and Tegucigalpa as well as from Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula.

Perhaps the most hazardous highway in Honduras this day is the CA13 between El Progreso and Tela. Construction on this highway has been come to a complete halt. Some stretches appear to be 4 lanes, yet the right lane suddenly ends without notice at a river or creek, as the bridge has not been built. Make sure you drive with extreme caution. Other stretches have no shoulder on the road. This is because work to expand the road began and was then abandoned. This means that passengers buses that stop to pick people up or drop them off must do so in the middle of the road! Any passenger bus in front of you can suddenly stop in the middle of the road. To top off this hazard, there is a lot of weekend traffic on this road.

The highway to Copan Ruinas is progressing nicely. However there is still work going on you should exercise caution when driving on this road. I expect it will be ready within the first quarter of 2019. I hope that our Honduras Highway update 2018 proves useful in your travels throughout Honduras!