Puerto Rico Highway 500 (PR-500) is a tertiary road in Ponce,
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
. 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 eastern terminus at
PR-132
Puerto Rico Highway 132 (PR-132) is a secondary highway that connects the town of Guayanilla to the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The road runs through the town of Peñuelas before reaching Ponce. In Ponce, PR-132 starts where Calle Villa ends.El ...
(Calle Villa), in
Barrio Canas Urbano
Canas Urbano is one of the 31 barrio of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Machuelo Abajo, Magueyes Urbano, Portugués Urbano, and San Antón, Canas Urbano is one of the municipality's five originally rural barrios that are n ...
, and its western terminus in Barrio Canas. A one-lane dirt road leads to PR-549 from there. The only major road PR-500 intersects is Avenida Baramaya (
PR-9
Puerto Rico Highway 9 (PR-9), also called the ''Anillo de Circunvalación de Ponce''
), at km 0.8. Prior to that, at km 0.3, PR-500 connects to PR-163 (
Avenida Las Américas
Avenida Las Américas, is a major thoroughfare in Ponce, Puerto Rico. 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 ...
). The road ends at km 2.3, where the ''Vertedero Municipal de Ponce'' (Ponce's Municipal Waste Yard) is located. From km 2.3 an unmarked dirt road leads to PR-549, which leads to barrio
Quebrada Limón
Quebrada Limón is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Along with Anón, Coto Laurel, Guaraguao, Marueño, Real, and San Patricio, and the coastal barrios of Canas and Capitanejo, Quebrada Limón is one of the mu ...
in the western portion of the municipality of Ponce.
In the 2000s decade, PR-500 was no longer transited by the oversized Ponce Cement (now CEMEX) trucks. Highway 500 is about one and one-half miles long, making one of the shortest highways in Puerto Rico. It is lined by residential areas with a short section lined by the Calle Villa Final industrial park, a light-industry industrial park.
In August 2011, Senator Larry Seilhamer Rodríguez presented a bill into the Puerto Rico Senate that would extend PR-500 westward to connect with
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. ...
in the area Guayanilla.
History
The highway is a wide two-way roadway originally designed to accommodate the oversized trucks used by the
Ponce Cement, Inc.
Ponce Cement, Inc. was a cement and limestone manufacturer in Ponce, Puerto Rico. The company was located at the intersection of PR-123 and PR-500, in Barrio Magueyes. It was founded in 1941 by Antonio Ferre Bacallao, a Puerto Rican industria ...
plant in barrio
Magueyes
Magueyes is one of the 31 barrios of the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Together with Cerrillos, Machuelo Arriba, Maragüez, Montes Llanos, Portugués, Sabanetas, and Tibes, Magueyes is one of the municipality's eight interior barrios. ...
, on road
PR-123
Puerto Rico Highway 123 (PR-123) is a secondary highway that connects the city Arecibo to the city of Ponce. It runs through the towns of Utuado and Adjuntas, before reaching Ponce. A parallel road is being built, PR-10, that is expected to tak ...
. The trucks were used to transport
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
soil from the northern slopes of the western barrio
Canas Canas or Cañas may refer to:
Places
* Canas (Lycia), a town of ancient Lycia, now in Turkey
* Amatlán de Cañas, a municipality in Nayarit, Mexico
* Cañas Canton, in Guanacaste province, Costa Rica
* Cañas, Costa Rica, capital of the Cañas (ca ...
PR-132
Puerto Rico Highway 132 (PR-132) is a secondary highway that connects the town of Guayanilla to the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The road runs through the town of Peñuelas before reaching Ponce. In Ponce, PR-132 starts where Calle Villa ends.El ...
(Calle Villa), which is the road leading from
Guayanilla
Guayanilla (, ) is a town and municipality of Puerto Rico located on the southern coast of the island, bordering the Caribbean Sea, south of Adjuntas, east of Yauco; and west of Peñuelas and about west of Ponce. Guayanilla is spread over 16 ...
to Ponce through Peñuelas, to its western terminus at Barrio Canas where it ends at the Ponce Municipal Waste and Recycling Yard.