Trip report--Reynosa(Pharr Bridge) to Ajijic

Well we finally made it home from Texas. This time, we crossed at the Reynosa Pharr bridge. This is one of the newer crossings and is better designed than most. The trucks are sent off to a different entry gate. You pay a toll of $2.50 and then pass through the U.S. customs, down a long causeway and then the trucks are separted off to the right and you go straight ahead. The building where you turn in your FMN is just to the right of the red light/green light gate and you park right in front, the immigration desk is to the right, next to the bathrooms. Very friendly and very fast.

After successfully passing with a green light we headed down. New big sign shows the direction to Route 97 straight ahead. This is the new cuota bypass of Reynosa we've all been waiting for. Technically it is not open but the immigration guy at the desk said no problema you can drive it. Sure enough, we just drove right down it and around the barrier at the new, currently unmanned toll booths, and right after that, onto the 97 completely missing all that chaos and potential crime of Reynosa. The new road brings you out way south of town. It should be officially open in a few months at which time the toll will be around $2.50, we're told. A screaming bargain.

The combination of this new road and the very nice setup at Pharr should make this a preferred crossing for many. It sure will be for us. Much easier than either Reynosa or Progreso.

We had an uneventful run down the 97 to the 101. There's a nice looking motel, the Rancho Viejo, there at the junction of the two roads just after you go onto the 101. We stopped in and found out that a room for the night there with king bed and secure parking is 375 pesos. We are thinking that, as the roads improve (see below), we may make this the northbound stop instead of Cuidad Victoria (CV).

Coming into CV you want to take the left turn onto the divided four lane ring road that is signed (green and white overhead) to San Luis Potosi (SLP). It is at the first traffic light on the north edge of town This road takes you directly down to the CV corta and is fast and uncrowded. There are two Pemexes close to the turn, a good place to gas up before the long run to SLP.

The corta is still the way to go, though the first part of it is getting pretty rough and badly needs some maintenance. Watch for some big pot holes and rough pavement.

Heading south on the 101, you encounter the first major route change. At the junction of the 101 and 80, where the 101 used to end, there is now a very new cuota that takes you further south before you cut over to the 57, the main road into SLP. I don't have the route number of the cut over road there but the cuota ends at it and it is clearly sign posted to SLP. Toll was 77 pesos total and well worth it to miss all that bad pavement and slow trucks on the old way of taking 80 over to the 57. A much easier drive and it felt defintely faster.

Once you're on the 57 headed south towards SLP, nothing new there. A lot of rough pavement in the right hand lane. (I wonder if Mexico will ever figure out that it needs to start weighing trucks and getting rid of the overloads that destroy roads as fast as they are built.) As you approach SLP you can either go into town and stay there or take the cuota bypass that brings you out south of town almost on top of the SLP corta (cuota) that takes you on towards Guad and home. We take the bypass and at the end, go right, back towards town for about a half mile where there is a small, new business hotel, the ZAR. Not particularly cheap or fancy (575 pesos for two) it is super convenient for overnighting right next to the route home.

When we leave in the morning, we backtrack about a block on the unofficial access road to the last retorno, pop across the road to head south, go a short distance and we're on the corta. Very fast and very easy. There's a 24 hour Pemex right there at the retorno.

At the end of the SLP corta, you once again have the dubious pleasure of driving one of the roughest and most dangerous "major" roads in Mexico, Route 80. There are crosses all along this road and with good reason. Be at your most alert when driving it. You have to watch for frustrated people trying to get around slow moving trucks and very bad pavement at the same time.

Fortunately, this road is in the process of being fully replaced by an entirely new route from the interchange at the end of the SLP corta all the way to Lagos. Some of you may know that this road was started 10 years ago and not finished until about a year ago when construction resumed.

We saw evidence of substantial progress just over the 3 months we were gone and it looks quite possible at least parts of the new road could open by summer and this could be the part that bypasses the worst parts of the old road. In the mean time, old 80 is one of the meanest, roughest roads around and it is really bad during the week when it is full of slow moving trucks. We have been timing our trips to always drive this road on Sunday mornings when traffic is the lightest and recommend that whenever possible until the new road finally opens. Watch for really bad, broken pavement and potholes that can definitely damage your car.

There's been some repaving and repair on the Lagos ring road (signposted to GDL at the edge of town, can't miss it). And the road from Lagos to the GDL cuota was repaved about a year ago and seems to be holding up well. The GDL cuota is also much improved, the litter has been picked up, the bathrooms are much cleaner and the road is excellent and fast. Coming into town, the reconstruction of the road that turns into Lazaro Cardenas is well along and will really be nice when finished. Things are still pretty hairy right after you get on Chapala highway, be very careful and try to get to the left lane as fast as you can.

That's pretty much it, from there to Ajijic is the usual. It took us a total of 7 hours from the border to SLP and 4.5 hours from SLP to home. The new route 80 could easily knock a half hour off of this when it finally opens, so the combination of crossing at Pharr and using the new bypass there, the cuota extension of 101 and the new route to the 57, and the new 80 could bring this drive down to the 11 hour or less range, making it possible to drive it in a day if you're in a hurry.

Post any questions you have here and I'll try and answer them.

Good to see you and Andy made it safely home.
Here's to your good health in 2011!

Thanks for the detailed report Maines. I hope your feeling much better.

MC ~ That Reynosa bypass sounds like a real timesaver. Nice report. Thanks, Lizzy