After 32 years of delays and frustrations, a new toll road recently opened in Costa Rica dramatically cutting the drive time from San Jose to the resort areas of the central coast.
 
The new 80 km highway will shave anywhere from 45 minutes to an 1.5 hours off the commute to Puntarenas, Jaco, Quepos and other beach destinations.
 
This is welcome news for anyone who experienced the old mountain road, which could turn any Costa Rica vacation into an adventure. Many visitors opted instead for a bumpy prop plane ride over the mountains.
 
It is not hyperbole to say the new road changes the experience for anyone contemplating a second home along one of Costa Rica’s most beautiful and popular coast lines. Beyond foreign buyers, the road should help the domestic market, developers say.
 
“This will really open up the Central Pacific for second homes from the affluent professional market in San Jose,” said Barry Strudwick, founder of Del Pacifico at Esterillos, which is located south of Jaco.
 
The road will also make it easier to develop health care centers in the coastal resorts, one of the fastest growing segments of the Costa Rican development community. In recent weeks, three different groups have visited Del Pacifico to explore the potential for using the development as the home for a clinic, Strudwick says.
 
“Easy access to San Jose and a combination of existing residential and office space appears to be what the new medical clinics are looking for,” he said.
 
The road has been in the planning stages since the ‘70s. Environmentalists fought the route, while others challenged the idea of the government backing a private toll road. Protesters blocked the road when it first opened in January.
 
But the development community, long frustrated by the delays, has welcomed the road.
 
“As soon as word gets out that this area is now quickly and comfortably accessible… prices are set to rocket,” International Living breathlessly predicts.
 
Some travelers have criticized he road as too narrow and too expensive. But many locals view it as a welcome relief after three decades of waiting.
 
“If the world ends in 2012 as the Mayans predicted, then at least we have two years to zoom back and forth between the crowded Central Valley and the open space of the hot central Pacific coast of Costa Rica,” one local blogger noted.