DR-3 is one of three main

dual carriageway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

highways of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

, connecting

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

to the eastern cities of the republic. The highway begins at the ''Plaza de La Bandera'', on the western side of Santo Domingo, and travels eastward through downtown Santo Domingo and continues east to

Santo Domingo Este Santo Domingo Este is a municipality and the provincial capital of the Santo Domingo province in the Dominican Republic. It has one municipal district (''distrito municipal''), San Luis. Santo Domingo Este is across the Ozama River which div ...

. Outside Santo Domingo it runs roughly parallel to the Caribbean Sea toward the eastern cities of the nation. DR-3 creates a rapid connection to the Las Américas International Airport, located only 30 kilometers east of Santo Domingo. DR-3 continues eastward to the beach towns of Andrés and

Boca Chica Boca Chica is a municipality ('' municipio'') of the Santo Domingo province in the Dominican Republic. Within the municipality there is one municipal district (''distritos municipal''): La Caleta. As of the 2012 census it had 123,510 inhabita ...

. DR-3 then continues east and slightly north to the eastern cities of

San Pedro de Macorís San Pedro de Macorís is a city and municipality (''municipio'') in the Dominican Republic and the capital of the San Pedro de Macorís province in the east region of the country; it is among the 10 largest cities of the Dominican Republic. The ...

, La Romana, and Higüey and has connections to the routes that lead to the resort towns of Bayahibe, Bávaro, and

Punta Cana Punta Cana is a resort town in the easternmost region of the Dominican Republic. It is part of the Veron–Punta Cana municipal district, in the Higüey municipality of La Altagracia Province. According to the 2010 census, this district had a p ...

. DR-3 has been part of a long program to improve, expand, and modernize the highways of the Republic. Most of DR-3 has been expanded to two or three lanes of traffic each way.

Route description

DR-3 is called by different names from its western terminus in ''Plaza de la Bandera'',

, Distrito Nacional to

San Rafael del Yuma San Rafael del Yuma is a municipality located in the La Altagracia province of the Dominican Republic. It has a population of approximately 46,687 in 2012. The ruins of Juan Ponce de León's residence are located on a plateau In geology and ...

in the eastern corner of the country. It connects the

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...

of the country with the eastern region known for its heavily tourist oriented economy. DR-3 travels to the major cities of the east such as

San Pedro De Macorís San Pedro de Macorís is a city and municipality (''municipio'') in the Dominican Republic and the capital of the San Pedro de Macorís province in the east region of the country; it is among the 10 largest cities of the Dominican Republic. The ...

and La Romana and the tourist towns of Bávaro,

and Bayahibe. Together with DR-4 it connects the east with the

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually ...

of Santo Domingo. DR-3 Entering the 27 de Febrero Expressway segment

Expreso 27 de Febrero/Expreso de las Americas

At the ''Plaza de la Bandera'', DR-3 begins its run named ''Expreso 27 de Febrero'' through the

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

districts of

with a series of tunnels and underground passes, making it an important main avenue of the city. There is a kilometer-long tunnel that crosses below ''Winston Churchill'' and ''Abraham Lincoln'' avenues, and short tunnels crossing below ''Tiradentes'' and ''Maximo Gomez'' avenues. A T-interchange and a tunnel were completed at the ''Ortega y Gasset'' avenue in 2011. It then continues its route east, also intersecting ''Maximo Gomez'' avenue, the main north-south thoroughfare of the city. The corridor continues east of downtown via the use of a single long grade-separated viaduct with exits that connect the expreso with the southern borders of working-class neighborhoods such as Miraflores, Villa Consuelo, and Mejoramiento Social. The viaduct continues above the ''San Martin'', ''Juan Pablo Duarte'', and ''Josefa Brea'' avenues of the city until its end in the Ozama River. As it reaches the border of the Distrito Nacional it crosses the Ozama River via the ''Juan Pablo Duarte'' and ''Prof. Juan Bosch'' bridges. DR-3 continues through

, renamed as ''Expreso de Las Americas'', with another kilometer-long tunnel below ''Venezuela'' and ''Sabana Larga'' avenues and a series of grade

overpass An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and '' underpass'' together for ...

es below intersections of ''San Vicente de Paul'' and ''San Isidro'', with a T-interchange yet to be completed in ''Estados Unidos'' avenue. Slightly further east, the Expreso connects with the ''Charles de Gaulle''

beltway A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

of the city. Expreso de Las Américas serves as the main urban corridor of

and serves as a rapid connection to

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business district ...

and the Distrito Nacional where most of the jobs of the city are located. Sunset DR-3

Autopista de las Américas

After exiting the municipality of

, the highway becomes a limited-access highway and runs parallel to the Caribbean Sea with six lanes of highway and a two-way, four-lane service road on the north side. The highway also contains modern service stops in the median constructed for the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. ...

. It provides a fast connection to Las Américas International Airport, the main airport serving Santo Domingo. Only 15 kilometers east of Greater Santo Domingo there is a toll booth for those entering the airport and traveling outside the bounds of the area. This section of the highway is one of the best in the country in terms of quality and has been improved several times since the 2003 Pan American Games. The portion from Santo Domingo Este to here is also the only true limited-access highway in the country as it contains an actual service road which allows faster traveling speeds for motorists. This portion of DR-3 (specifically when traveling eastbound) is also very dangerous due to its proximity to the Caribbean Sea, and has been the cause of many fatal slip-off accidents; this problem is yet to be addressed by the Dominican authorities.

Autovia del Este

East of the airport the highway bisects the beach towns of Andres and

, greatly reducing travel speeds for a 2-3 kilometer distance due to improvised intersections and lack of proper exits; this problem is currently being addressed by the Dominican authorities and improvements over this short section of highway are underway. DR-3 continues its trip eastward, bypassing Juan Dolio (over the north) but providing a connection to the ''Boulevard de Juan Dolio'' which enters the popular resort town. To the east of Juan Dolio lies the city of

which DR-3 bypasses slightly over the north of the city. East of SPM is La Romana, the easternmost city DR-3 directly connects to Santo Domingo. DR-3 ends near the town of

in La Altagracia Province, where it intersects with DR-4. Local routes continue eastward and provide a connection to the internationally renowned tourist towns of

and Bávaro located in the eastern extremes. The highway connects

to the eastern part of the country with a mere four-hour drive. Many upgrades and expansion plans are designed to improve this highway in the near future; these plans are part of ''Viadom'', a national project to improve national infrastructure.

Recent and future construction

Currently the Ministry of Public Works of

is constructing a series of tunnels in Expreso 27 de Febrero in conjunction with the

Corredor Duarte DR-1 is a dual carriageway highway that forms part of the five designated national highways of the Dominican Republic. DR-1 provides a fast connection between Santo Domingo, the capital, on the southern coast, and the second city Santiago and ...

, which will finalize the corridor and make it express from Winston Churchill Avenue to the Plaza de la Bandera, which is the only remaining section of the expreso with no grade separation at important intersections. The tunnels were finished in August 2011. In Boca Chica, order breaks down due to construction and repairs being done to improve this part of the highway. Many streets of Boca Chica still intersect the highway, greatly reducing travel speed and causing slowdowns and unsafe travel relative to the rest of the highway. The Dominican government is currently trying to resolve this issue by expanding the highway and adding service roads to improve traveling speeds. In 2002 the ''Autopista de las Américas'' was renovated by placing new light bulbs and service stops in the middle of the highway while making it a three-lane expressway. This improvement helped eliminate traffic as it entered the Greater Santo Domingo Area. After seeing the results of these improvements the government decided to renovate the Autovia Del Este from AILA to

. In 2006, the Dominican government began a project to reroute the highway north of the SPM town to avoid local traffic. As a result, the Mauricio Báez Bridge was constructed over the Higuamo River. Today, motorists no longer have to pass through the congested city streets of SPM in order to drive to destinations in the east. In August 2012, the government opened a new four-lane highway named '' Autopista del Coral'' which runs non-stop from La Romana to Punta Cana (one of the most popular tourist regions of the country). This section became part of the DR-3 designation as soon as it was opened. The ''Boulevard del Este'' project would connect Autopista del Coral from Punta Cana northward to El Macao. It would complete the eastern corridor from Santo Domingo.

Major intersections

This is a table of distance in kilometers from Santo Domingo, one of the major cities located along the DR-3.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DR-3 Highways and routes in the Dominican Republic