Avenida Las Américas, is a major thoroughfare in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government. Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 1 ...

. Most of its length is signed as Puerto Rico Highway 163 (PR-163). The highway has both of its termini as well as all of its length entirely within the Ponce city limits. It runs west to east. As of 12 November 2010, the segment of this road from its intersection in the west with PR-2R (a.k.a., Carretera Pámpanos) to its intersection in the east with

PR-12 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 1 ...

, officially became the ''Bulevar Luis A. Ferré''. The segment from Avenida Hostos in the east to Carretera Pámpanos (PR-2R) in the west, the first segment built, was built in 1960.

Route description

The highway is a two-way divided six-lane road that starts at its junction in

Barrio Canas Canas is one of the 31 barrios in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Anón, Coto Laurel, Guaraguao, Quebrada Limón, Real, San Patricio, and Marueño, and the coastal barrio of Capitanejo, Canas is one of the municipality's ni ...

with

PR-500 Puerto Rico Highway 500 (PR-500) is a tertiary road in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The highway has both of its endpoints, as well as all of its length, entirely within the Ponce city limits. It runs east to west. Route description The road has its ...

, near Avenida Baramaya (PR-9), next to Puente San Antonio, and runs east until it meets

PR-1 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 S ...

at Bulevar Miguel Pou. Avenida Las Américas runs easterly from PR-500, intersecting with ''Ramal PR-2'' (PR-2R) near

Francisco Montaner Stadium The Estadio Francisco ("Paquito") Montaner (English: ''Francisco ("Paquito") Montaner Stadium'') is a multi-use stadium in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is home to the Leones de Ponce team of the Puerto Rico Baseball League (LBPPR) and FC Leones of ...

and

Juan Pachín Vicéns Auditorium ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, and passing Secretaría de Recreación y Deportes. Continuing east it passes

Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico The Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Puerto Rico) is a private Roman Catholic university with its main campus in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It provides courses leading to Bachelor's, Master's and Docto ...

, and

Museo de Arte de Ponce Museo de Arte de Ponce (MAP) is an art museum located on Avenida Las Américas in Ponce, Puerto Rico.Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Tourism Company. Ven al Sur, page 20. San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2003. It houses a collection of European a ...

, before intersecting with Avenida Hostos (PR-123). Other points of interest on Avenida Las Américas are the former Puerto Rico Police headquarters for the Ponce Region, the Ponce Governmental Center, and

Hospital Metropolitano Dr. Pila Hospital Metropolitano Dr. Pila or, more commonly, Hospital Dr. Pila is a hospital in Ponce, Puerto Rico. History The hospital was founded in 1925 in by Dr. Manuel de la Pila Iglesias, a Spaniard from Cádiz, Spain, who had been raised in Po ...

. Continuing east, the road crosses Rio Portugués and immediately afterwards the road intersects Avenida Santiago de los Caballeros (PR 12), and takes a northerly turn to intersect with

at Bulevar Miguel Pou, about one mile further. Additional businesses along its way are

Café Rico Café Rico is a Puerto Rican corporation that manufactures coffee branded by the same name. The company's headquarters are located at Avenida Las Americas/ Route 163 and Calle Comercio/ Route 133 in Barrio San Antón in the city of Ponce, Pue ...

and Centro del Sur Mall, both at Avenida Las Américas's intersection with PR-133, also known as Calle Comercio.

Road characteristics

Avenida Las Américas is 7.0 kilometers long and ends at the intersection of Boulevard Miguel Pou (PR-1). Although Avenida Las Américas ends at its intersection with PR-1, physically the roadway continues as a non-divided four-lane road called Avenida Emilio Fagot to intersect with

PR-14 Puerto Rico Highway 14 (PR-14) is a main highway connecting Cayey, Puerto Rico to Ponce, Puerto Rico. The road runs the same course as the historic Carretera Central. The Coamo-to-Ponce section of PR-14 was built under the direction of Spanish e ...

and, further north, to come to an end at a junction with

PR-10 Puerto Rico Highway 10 (PR-10) is a major highway in Puerto Rico. The primary state road connects the city of Ponce in the south coast to Arecibo in the north; it is also the shortest route between the two cities. Construction on the modern PR- ...

for access to points in northeast and north Puerto Rico, respectively. The less transited western section of Avenida Las Américas experiences an hourly traffic flow upwards of 2400 vehicles. On the westernmost end of the road, Puente San Antonio connects Avenida Las Américas with

PR-9 Puerto Rico Highway 9 (PR-9), also called the ''Anillo de Circunvalación de Ponce''

, also called Avenida Baramaya.

History

The segment of Avenida Las Américas from Avenida Hostos in the east to Carretera Pámpanos (PR-2R) in the west, was the first segment built; it was built in 1960. In the 1960s, the segment from Carretera Pámpanos in the east to just before

in the west was built as part of the urban development of that area in the 1960s. However, Avenida Las Américas came to an abrupt dead end before reaching PR-500. The third segment built was built to connect Avenida Las Américas from Avenida Hostos (PR-123) in the west to Avenida Julio E. Monagas in the east. This last segment was built in the 1980s. During the same period the road was expanded to the west to connect Avenida Las Américas with PR-500.

Route description

Road characteristics

History

See also