Puerto Rico Highway 66 (PR-66) is a main

tollway A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemente ...

which parallels

Puerto Rico Highway 3 Puerto Rico Highway 3 (PR-3) at nearly 100 miles long, is the second longest highway on Puerto Rico (after PR-2). It connects the San Juan neighborhood of Río Piedras to downtown Salinas indirectly around the eastern coast of the island. Highw ...

going from the city of

Carolina, Puerto Rico Carolina (; ) is a city and municipality located on the northeast coast of Puerto Rico. It lies immediately east of the capital San Juan and Trujillo Alto; north of Gurabo and Juncos; and west of Canóvanas and Loíza. Carolina is spread over ...

via a 3 loops cloverleaf interchange with PR-26 and PR-3, a major exit in the form of a

Trumpet interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, usi ...

Canóvanas, Puerto Rico Canóvanas (, ) is a town and municipality in Puerto Rico, located in the northeastern region, north of Juncos and Las Piedras; south of Loíza; east of Carolina; and west of Río Grande. Canóvanas is spread over 6 barrios and Canóvanas P ...

and ending in the municipality of Río Grande, Puerto Rico with an intersection of PR-3. It is only ''Guía de Carreteras Principales, Expresos y Autopistas.''
Departamento de Transportación y Obras Publicas de Puerto Rico. Accessed 21 February 2020. long and has very few exits, which work mainly to minimize traffic in the congested Carolina area of PR-3. The highway is called the ''Roberto Sánchez Vilella Expressway'', which is also the name given to the much larger

PR-2 Puerto Rico Highway 2 (PR-2) is a road in Puerto Rico that connects the cities of San Juan and Ponce. At 156 miles (230 km) long, it is Puerto Rico's longest singled-signed highway. The road runs counter-clockwise from San Juan to Ponce. ...

freeway segment from Hormigueros to Ponce. The second phase of PR-66 from Canóvanas to

Río Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio ...

was opened on 1 October 2012.

Route description

Naming

PR-66 is, in reality, an extension of older expressway PR-26, as both expressways are attached (that is, there is no need to take an exit to enter the other expressway, much like PR-18 and PR-52). PR-66 was assigned that number after

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) was one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The h ...

in the United States.

Controversy

PR-66 is very close to the

El Yunque National Forest El Yunque National Forest ( es, Bosque Nacional El Yunque), formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest (or ''Bosque Nacional del Caribe''), is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico. It is the only tropical rainforest in the United Sta ...

and at the start of construction there were problems between developers and environmental activists. Several acts of disobedience took place, including removing beams which had already been installed. The expressway was planned to be extended to Fajardo but due to the close presence of the forest reserve, it was accorded to be extended to Río Grande and connect to PR-3 which has several exits between that municipality and Fajardo. It it is possible PR-3 will be converted into a complete freeway, in that segment, as it approaches PR-53. The short expressway is very expensive in terms of toll fees and many people still go through PR-3 as a consequence. There are no plans to change the cost. The current toll fees are $1.50 and $1.00, respectively. This makes this small freeway the second most expensive tollway in the US (excluding bridges and tunnels), after the

Dulles Greenway State Route 267 (SR 267) is a primary state highway in the US state of Virginia. It consists of two end-to-end toll roads – the Dulles Toll Road and Dulles Greenway – as well as the non-tolled Dulles Access Road, which lies in the ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in terms of its small length, about . The result is that PR-66 has low traffic most all the time, including during rush hours. As of December 2011, the toll must be paid by pre-paid AutoExpreso.

Tolls

Exit list

Notes

References

External links

* {{Interstates

066 66 may refer to: * 66 (number) * One of the years 66 BC, AD 66, 1966, 2066 * "66" (song), a song by Lil Yachty featuring Trippie Redd *66, a song by The Afghan Whigs, from the album 1965 *Sixty-Six (card game), a German card game * ''Sixty Six'' (f ...

66 66 Tolled sections of Interstate Highways