Rail transport in Puerto Rico currently consists of a 10.7-mile (17.2 km) passenger metro system in the island's metropolitan area of San Juan. Its history can be traced back to the mid-19th century with the construction of a limited passenger line in Mayagüez. Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Puerto Rico's rail transport system expanded significantly, becoming one of the largest rail systems in the Caribbean at the time thanks to an economic boom in agriculture industries, especially the sugar cane industry. The rail system was expanded to include passenger travel with a direct line from the island's northern capital of San Juan to the western and southern cities and towns, greatly improving travel and communication within the island. However, the entire system was soon overshadowed by the arrival of the automobile, and by the 1950s was completely abandoned. Small remnants of this system still exist in some parts of Puerto Rico, some conserved for tourism purposes.
Puerto Rico Highway 22 (PR-22), also part of unsigned Interstate PR2, is an 84.3 km (52.4 mi) long toll road on the north coast of Puerto Rico that connects the cities of San Juan and Hatillo. The road is also known as the José de Diego Expressway, and is part of unsigned Interstate PR-2. It is a 4-lane road for much of its length, but expands to up to 12 lanes in the San Juan metro area. The road is frequently congested, in particular during rush hour due to heavy commuter traffic.
Puerto Rico Highway 2 (PR-2) is a road in Puerto Rico that connects the cities of San Juan and Ponce. At 156 miles (230 km) long, it is Puerto Rico's longest singled-signed highway.
Puerto Rico Highway 1 (PR-1) is a highway in Puerto Rico that connects the city of Ponce to San Juan. Leaving Ponce, the road heads east and follows a somewhat parallel route along the southern coast of the island heading towards Salinas. At Salinas, the road turns north to cut through the Cordillera Central in its approach to San Juan. Before reaching San Juan, it climbs to make its way to the mountain town of Cayey and then it winds down into the city of Caguas on its final approach to San Juan.
Puerto Rico Highway 12 (PR-12), also called Avenida Malecón, and Avenida Santiago de los Caballeros, is a 6.4-kilometer, limited-access highway entirely located within the city limits of Ponce, Puerto Rico, and connecting Puerto Rico Highway 14 to the La Guancha area in Barrio Playa in Ponce. It is similar to a freeway but has one traffic light near its intersection with PR-14. In addition to its northern and southern terminus, the highway has four full interchange exits: PR-52, PR-2, PR-133/Calle Comercio, and Avenida Las Américas. Since PR-12's southern terminus is at the Port of Ponce, its traffic volume is expected to grow as construction in the new Port of the Americas is completed.
Puerto Rico Highway 14 (PR-14) is a main highway connecting Ponce to Cayey, Puerto Rico. The road runs the same course as the historic Carretera Central. The Ponce-to-Coamo section of PR-14 was built under the direction of Spanish engineer Raimundo Camprubí Escudero.
Puerto Rico Highway 167 (PR-167) is one of the main highways in the San Juan–Caguas–Guaynabo metropolitan area of Puerto Rico. Highway 167 starts at Puerto Rico Highway 165 in Levittown and goes until Puerto Rico Highway 156 in Comerío.
Puerto Rico Highway 123 (PR-123) is a secondary highway that connects the city Arecibo to the city of Ponce. It runs through the towns of Utuado and Adjuntas, before reaching Ponce. A parallel road is being built, PR-10, that is expected to take on most of the traffic currently using PR-123.
The Ruta Panorámica, officially the Ruta Panorámica Luis Muñoz Marín, is a 167-mile (269 km) network of some 40 secondary roads which traverse the island of Puerto Rico from west to east along its Cordillera Central. Most of the route consists of three roads, PR-105, PR-143, and PR-182. The route starts in Mayagüez and ends in Maunabo. The first major segment of the route runs from Mayagüez to Maricao as Route 105, then from Adjuntas to Aibonito as Route 143, and then follows Route 182 toward Maunabo.
Avenida Juan Ponce de León, coextensive as Puerto Rico Highway 25 (PR-25) along its entire length, is one of the main thoroughfares in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The Carretera Central is a historic north–south central highway in Puerto Rico, linking the cities of San Juan and Ponce by way of Río Piedras, Caguas, Cayey, Aibonito, Coamo, and Juana Díaz. It crosses the Cordillera Central. Plans for the road started in the first half of the 19th century, and the road was fully completed in 1898. At the time the United States took possession of Puerto Rico in 1898, the Americans called it "the finest road in the Western Hemisphere."
This portion of National Register of Historic Places listings in Puerto Rico is along the central mountain region, from Las Marías and Maricao in the central-west to Juncos in the central-east, including the slopes of the Cordillera.
Puerto Rico Highway 159 (PR-159) is the main road from Morovis to Toa Alta, passing through the municipality of Corozal in Puerto Rico. This road begins in downtown Morovis, from its intersection with PR-155 and PR-6623 to its junction with PR-165 in Toa Alta. It is about 21 km (13 mi) long.
Timoteo Luberza de San Martín was a nineteenth-century Puerto Rican engineer from Ponce, Puerto Rico. He was responsible for the 1875 Ponce water supply system, including the dam in Rio Portugues, and the Calle del Agua masonry arch aqueduct in barrio Portugues Urbano in Ponce. In 1864, he served briefly as mayor of the nearby town of Yauco. He is best remembered for designing Plaza del Mercado de Ponce.
The Puente Río Portugués is a historic bridge over the former course of the Río Portugués in barrio Playa in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The bridge was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2015. The bridge is prominent as "the oldest longitudinal steel beams / reinforced concrete bridge built within the historic Carretera Central". It is located on Avenida Hostos, just south of its intersection with Ponce By Pass.
The Puente de los Leones is a historic bridge in Ponce, Puerto Rico, joining Barrio Tercero to Barrio San Antón and Barrio Machuelo Abajo. It is also the city's best known bridge. The bridge is at the western terminus of Bulevar Miguel Pou, the main gateway to the Ponce Historic Zone. The Art Deco bridge carries four lanes of vehicular traffic from the two-way Miguel Pou Boulevard. It crosses Río Portugués connecting Barrio Tercero to the west with Barrios Machuelo Abajo and San Anton to the east. It is located 0.5 km east of Plaza Las Delicias.
The Roads in Puerto Rico are the national, forest and municipal roadways that make up the approximately 14,400 kilometers (8,900 mi) roads through the terrain of Puerto Rico. The highways serve the more than 3 million residents, and 3-4 million tourists who visit each year.
In 1953, the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation and Public Works implemented a major renumbering of its insular highways. Before 1953, highway routes were numbered in the 1 to just over 100 range and were distributed randomly throughout the island, resulting in several routes with long road lengths. The numbering system adopted in 1953, which is in use today, increased the range of route numbers from the just-over-100 to 999, resulting in a decrease in the length of many routes. This new numbering system follows a grid pattern for highways numbered between 100 and 999, with the lower numbered roads found to the west and systematically increasing towards 999 as the traveler moves easterly. Although PR-1, PR-2 and PR-3 routes had notable changes in some of their segments, these three are the only highways that kept their route numbers intact due to their interregional prominence.
The Casilla del Caminero is a 19th-century structure located in the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez.
