New Santo Domingo to Samana Highway finally opens
The Carretera De Samana (Spanish for: Santo Domingo-Samana Highway) is the newest addition to the Dominican Republic national highway system. The actual construction of the Highway started in the 2005 and final paving started in 2007. As the landscape is difficult and the financing has been a major issue, the project stalled on several occasions, but it is now finally open.
The highway will reduce a trip from Santo Domingo to Samana from 4 hours and 30 Minutes to less than 2 hours and is expected to reduce the traffic along the DR1, which is the present highway used to drive to Samana.
The Highway starts on the National highway DR3 (30 KM from Santo Domingo) and ends on Cruse Rinco de Monillos, Samana Province. The highway’s three toll plazas are on the Las Americas interchange and in the villages El Naranjal and Guaraguao, where for each section the toll is 650 pesos for buses, 350 pesos for light vehicles and 860 pesos for trucks. Users are expected to make considerable fuel savings despite these tolls.