Portugués River

Río Portugués is a river in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. In the 19th century, it was also known as ''Río de Ponce.'' Twenty-one bridges for motor vehicle traffic span Río Portugués in the municipality of Ponce alone. The river is also known as Río Tibes in the area where it flows through barrio Tibes in the municipality of Ponce. Río Portugués has a length of nearly and runs south from the Cordillera Central mountain range into the Caribbean Sea. The Portugués is one of the best-known rivers in Ponce because of its prominent zigzagging through the city and its historical significance. The river is historically significant because the city of Ponce had its origins on its banks. It was originally known as Río Baramaya (Baramaya River). It has its mouth at . This river is one of the 14 rivers in the municipality.

Origin

Río Portugués has its origin in Cerro Guilarte, located the western part of barrio Portugués in the bordering municipality of Adjuntas, just north of Ponce, and drains into the Caribbean Sea after running for some . The river has a discharge of 16,000 feet³/second. The toponymy, or origin of the name, comes from one of its first settlers, Pedro Rodríguez de Guzman, known as ''el Portugués'' ("the Portuguese") because his ancestry was from Portugal.Another source names this early settler "Pedro Perdomo de Guzmán". It is not clear which of the two names is the correct name, or if his name was perhaps Pedro Rodriguez Perdomo de Guzmán or some other variation. Se
''Historia de Nuestros Barrios: Portugués, Ponce''
Rafael Torrech San Inocencio. El Sur a la Vista. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Elsuralavista.com. 14 February 2010.

Tributaries

Río Chiquito is one of the tributaries of Río Portugués (i.e., Río Chiquito feeds into Río Portugués). In the sectors and sub-barrios that it traverses, the locals call the river by the name of such sector/barrio. Thus names such as Río Cedro, Río Nuez, Río Moscada, and Río Tibes as the unofficial local name of Río Portugués in the sectors known as Cedro, Nuez, Moscada and Tibes.

Course of the river

Starting at its origin in Barrio Portugués, Adjuntas, Río Portugués, as it is known locally, begins to form at an altitude of approximately 2,853 feet (870 m) above sea level. The river then runs in a southerly direction parallel to PR-10 for most of its trajectory, crossing barrios Guaraguao, San Patricio, and Tibes. It brushes barrio Machuelo Arriba on its southwestern corner after it crosses PR-10 just west of the intersection of PR-10 and PR-504, immediately north of the Ponce city limits. From there it enters barrio Machuelo Abajo and continues south crossing Avenida Betances/Avenida Tito Castro (PR-14), at a point about half a mile west of the intersection of routes PR-12 and PR-14. A few hundred feet before the Avenida Betances bridge over Río Portugués in the city of Ponce, the river divides barrios Sexto, located west of the river, and Machuelo Abajo, to the east. It continues south crossing Calle Guadalupe, at which point it divides barrio Quinto to the west and Machuelo Abajo to the east. This point is just west of '' Club Deportivo de Ponce.'' Several hundred feet further downstream, at Miguel Pou Boulevard–PR-1 and Puente de los Leones– Tricentennial Park, the river divides barrios Tercero and San Antón. Further downstream, the river runs immediately west of La Ceiba Park on Calle Comercio (route PR-133) in sector Cuatro Calles. After crossing Calle Comercio, Río Portugués divides barrios Cuarto and San Anton, and continues its southerly course towards Avenida Las Américas ( PR-163).

The following table summarizes the course of the river in terms of roads crossed. Roads are listed as the river flows from its origin in Ponce's Barrio Guaraguao in the north to the Caribbean Sea in the south (N/A = Data not available):

Former and current course

For flood control purposes, in the 1970s Río Portugués was diverted by the U.S. Corps of Engineers from emptying directly into the Caribbean Sea at Playa de Ponce to feeding into the Río Bucaná which then empties into the Caribbean Sea. This channelization project started in 1974 and was completed in 1997. It was a multimillion-dollar investment, with just the first phase costing $120 million.

Former course

The former course of Río Portugués, prior to being diverted and channelized by the U.S. Corps of Engineers in the 1970s, followed from the area just north of Avenida Las Américas/ PR-163 in a south-southwesterly fashion crossing Avenida Las Américas immediately east of Hospital Dr. Pila. It then continued south behind the Governmental Center/Puerto Rico Police Ponce Area headquarters, and followed a trajectory almost parallel to Avenida Hostos (PR-123, formerly PR-10). It then crossed PR-2 immediately east of the intersection of Avenida Hostos and Ponce Bypass/PR-2, at the sector called "Caracoles". From there the river used to continue flowing southerly, at one point just edging the area where Plaza del Caribe now stands. This old course then took a sharp westerly turn and crossed Avenida Hostos, at the now historic Puente Río Portugués. From this point it continued running south-southwesterly where it (now, since the newly built PR-52) crossed PR-52. From here the river flowed another one mile (1.6 km) crossing the low-lying area of Barrio La Playa at Avenida Padre Noel before draining into the Caribbean Sea about 30 or 40 yards from Avenida Padre Noel, in the area called Villa Pesquera.

Current course

Once the U.S. Corps of Engineers canalized Río Portugués as it flowed through the city of Ponce, the Corps also diverted its course from a south-southwesterly course to a south-southeasterly course. This diversion started immediately south of the river's intersection with Avenida Las Américas.

From Avenida Las Américas the river now flows, channelized, in a south-southeasterly after crossing Avenida Las Américas about a quarter of a mile east of Hospital Dr. Pila. After crossing Avenida Las Américas in downtown Ponce, the river comes to the location where in the 1970s it was diverted by the US Corps of Engineers from a southwesterly path to its current southeasterly path. Taking a sharp easterly turn, Río Portugués enters barrio San Antón, and crosses route PR-12/Avenida Malecon about one quarter of a mile north of PR-12's intersection with PR-2. Shortly thereafter the river bends to become southbound and crosses route PR-2, about one quarter of a mile east of PR-2's intersection with PR-12. The river then borders the Julio Enrique Monagas Family Park

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