The Road to Cayo Santa María is a road that was planned to go from the

Abel Santamaría Airport Abel Santamaría Airport Data current as of October 2006. Source: DAFIF. ( ) is an international airport serving Santa Clara, the capital city of the Villa Clara Province in Cuba. It was named after the Cuban revolutionary Abel Santamaría. ...

Cayo Santa María Cayo Santa María (Saint Mary Cay or "Key") is an island off Cuba's north central coast in the Jardines del Rey archipelago. The island is linked by road and bridge to the town of Caibarién on the main island. Cayo Santa María is well known for ...

in order to get tourist from the airport to the hotels faster and safer. The road currently has two parts and is under construction. The first section is commonly known as the Road to the Santa Clara Airport, which goes from the airport to the Road of Camajuaní. The second section starts from the

Circuito Norte The ''Circuito Norte'' (CN), meaning "Northern Circuit", is a west-east highway spanning the length of the island of Cuba, through the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic Coast. With a length of 1,222 km, it is the second-longest Cuban highway, afte ...

, and goes east on the part known as the Cayo Santa María Causeway and continues until the Cayo Santa María.

History

In 1989,

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...

states plans on making roads to connect to the provinces keys and make it a tourist area, with construction of the Causeway starting later that year. The Causeway finished paving all 48 km in 2000, becoming the longest Courseway in the world and has been awarded the Puente de Alcántara prize for the "Best

Ibero-America Ibero-America (, ) or Iberian America is generally considered to be the region in the Americas comprising countries or territories where Spanish or Portuguese are predominant languages (usually former colony, territories of Spain or Portugal). Sp ...

n Civil Works", for its size, structure, and engineering in an area of great economic potential and its integration into the natural landscape. In 2020, Mintur, made an observation on the causeway, with it needing the readjustment of the metal road protection curbs, along more than 40km, and the repair of several connecting bridges of the viaduct. The biggest hit on the road was

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Hurricane Maria, Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered ...

in 2017, causing increasing displacement of the internal components of the structure. The road from the airport was first planned to be 53 km and go directly from the airport to the Causeway, with it going south of the Road to Camajuaní and the

, near the towns of Bartolomé and Rojas, on the Remedios–Zulueta Road (4–641) and Carretera a Rojas. The plan was supposed to be revived in 2011, with 15 km already built beforehand, they just needed the final touches for it to get approved for the economy of next year, although the road is currently only under construction in the eastern intersection with the Circuito Norte, and nothing appears to be done in the west. Once finished, the whole road going from the airport to Santa María would be about 106 km. The Santa Clara Airport section of the road was formerly part of the municipalities of Cifuentes and

Camajuaní Camajuaní is a municipality and town in the Villa Clara Province of Cuba. History In 1819 was decided the construction of a new port in near Caibarién to replace an old one located in Tesisco. From that moment, settlers established in the sur ...

before the municipalities changed its border to become fully a part of Santa Clara. Currently, buses going from the

go through the 4–321 after the Airport section of the road ends, then continues straight onto the Circuito Norte to finally get onto the exit to get onto the Causeway of Cayo Santamaria, to later get into the hotels.

Route

The road is currently divided into two sections, one going from the Abel Santamaría Airport to the Road of Camajuaní, and the other is the Causeway that reaches the Cayo Santa Maria. The causeway section is 53 miles long, and takes less than an hour to drive through.

References

{{reflist Roads in Cuba Santa Clara, Cuba Caibarién Camajuaní