Senate commission presses highway authority for details on $227M PR‑10 completion plan

The Senate Commission on Development (South and Central) convened on June 2, 2021 to review the status of projects intended to convert Puerto Rico Highway 10 (PR‑10) into an expressway linking Arecibo and Ponce. Commissioners opened the hearing to examine five pending contract segments and to obtain segment‑level technical, schedule and funding information from the Autoridad de Carreteras y Transportación.

Ing. Alexandra Velázquez Delgado, director of design for the Autoridad de Carreteras, told the commission the remaining tramos of PR‑10 consist of four segments between Utuado and Adjuntas and that the “project proposed consists of the construction of the four pending segments to finalize PR‑10” as an expressway with a median and controlled access. She stated the total cost for the outstanding work is “approximately two hundred twenty‑seven million dollars.”

Commission members pressed for detailed stationing, lengths, bridge counts and procurement methods for each contract. The authority identified projects by internal codes (AC100069, AC100071, AC100055 and AC100076) and gave the following segment highlights during the hearing: AC100071 (km 36.20–34.30) is about 1.929 km with five bridges and an estimated construction cost near $60–$67 million; AC100069 is roughly 1.571 km, design complete and projected for…