Thursday, October 9, 2025

Oaxaca-Puerto Escondido highway opening date delayed again

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced during his Monday morning press briefing that several landslides had occurred on the long-anticipated Oaxaca-Puerto Escondido highway, making it impossible to inaugurate the project on Nov. 29, as planned.

According to the president, two slopes along the route collapsed due to rains reported over the weekend. 

Collapse site
The president blamed the collapse on natural conditions. (YouTube / Andrés Manuel López Obrador)

Repair work on the highway is estimated to last a couple of months before the site’s inauguration on a new date: January 2024. Prior to the accident, the entire route was one bridge away from becoming functional, the president explained.

“This is bad news, but we will still ensure that it is inaugurated in early January,” López Obrador added.

The project has faced numerous setbacks including technical issues and social conflicts, particularly since the initial contract was awarded in 2009, and then the original concessionaire transferred the project rights to another company in 2014. In 2016, one year past its original projected completion date, the halfway-completed project was suspended again and handed over to the National Infrastructure Fund (Fonadin).

In August last year, officials were still expecting the highway to open by the end of 2022

Puerto Escondido-Oaxaca highway collapse site
Collapse site as seen from drone footage shared at AMLO’s Monday morning press conference. (YouTube / Andrés Manuel López Obrador)

The new highway – which will replace existing Highway 131, a treacherous 102-kilometer mountain road – will allow travelers to get from Oaxaca city to Puerto Escondido in 2.5 hours instead of the current 6 hours it currently takes to reach the Pacific Coast beach destination. 

With reports from Infobae and Expansión

6 COMMENTS

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.
A surfer performs a trick in a wave at Zicatela Beach in Puerto Escondido, the 14th World Surfing Reserve

If you like surfing in Hawaii, then you will love Puerto Escondido in Mexico

2
Hawaii may be the world's foremost surf spot, but wave riders will also fall in love with this little slice of paradise on the Oaxaca coast.
A long exposure night photo of the Muelle de Playa Los Muertos in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico. The iconic sail-like structure at the end of the pier is illuminated with a purple light against a blue twilight sky with dark clouds. The structure is connected to the shore by a long, dark pier extending over the calm ocean water.

Puerto Vallarta braces for 2026 and beyond with new infrastructure initiatives

3
Get the local scoop on big changes coming to Puerto Vallarta, from the new airport project to the opening of the new Tepic-Compostela highway in November.
An aerial view of a small, rocky island covered in dense green vegetation. A secluded white-sand beach is nestled in a cove, and the island is surrounded by clear, emerald-green water that reveals dark coral reefs or rock formations beneath the surface.

Experience the restorative power of quiet on Nayarit’s tiny, pristine Isla del Coral

0
This tiny Nayarit island near Rincón de Guayabitos offers a restorative day of swimming, snorkeling among coral reefs and fresh ceviche on the beach.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity