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[DrZoidberg]

I've read a lot on the great Pan American highway, and find it fascinating how one could drive from Alaska to the tip of southern Argentina (save the Darien Gap).  Has anybody here ever driven portions of the Pan American Highway? 

Was there ever a proposed routing for the Pan Am Highway in the US?  I know it was never signed, but I do know that I-35 had sections of it called the Pan American Freeway. (or was that I-25?)

Has anybody ever attempted the full trek?  I had done some planning in college to actually attempt the central American portion with my roommates, but it was scrapped for safety concerns and expenses. 

[Chris]

I believe the Panamericana runs across portions of the I-25 yes 

It's also partially a freeway in Peru and Chile. Chile is quite a modern country, lots of expressways and freeways, also outside urban areas. I think it might be the most developed country in South America.

[DrZoidberg]

I remember reading about the Chilean portions of the Pan Am highway, and it is one of the better kept sections of highway in South America.  I also believe it contains the highest point as it ascends into the Andes. 

It'd be cool to drive it someday....

[yanksfan6129]

Canada, like the US, also doesn't have an "official" routing of the Pan-American highway.

[corco]

I-35 is typically considered our branch of the Pan-American in recent years, but historically it has been US-85/I-25 (the Canam Highway)

[DrZoidberg]

I-35 is typically considered our branch of the Pan-American in recent years, but historically it has been US-85/I-25 (the Canam Hi

Which is funny since I-35 doesn't connect Canada and Mexico. 

[Fcexpress80]

As a lifelong highway geek, I love this forum.  Google Earth has opened up a whole new world to me as I am able to "see" the highway systems of other countries. 

Back to the topic.  While Google Earthing the country of Chile, I noticed their Federal Highway 5 is an Interstate standards expressway and tollroad through a significant portion of the country.  I believe that this route is also considered the Pan American Highway at this point. 

It is nice to see other nations upgrading their highway systems to the equal of the USA and Europe. 

I would love to see Chile and Argentina attempt to build at least one expressway through the Andes between Santiago and Buenos Aires.  I would love to be on the engineering team! 

[Hellfighter]

Maybe they should have an official route in the US designated the Pan-American Highway.

[Revive 755]

Maybe they should have an official route in the US designated the Pan-American Highway.

I nominate US 83 for this designation.

[DrZoidberg]

I nominate US 83 for this designation.

Not a bad choice at all!  I think I'd nominate I-35, switching to I-29 in Kansas City for a Mexico to Canada routing.

[ComputerGuy]

I'd rather have US 95...goes through some great spots..

[Bickendan]

If I recall correctly, the Pan-Am Highway 'starts' in Deadhorse, AK, and winds its way down to the US via Fairbanks and the Alaska Highway. As I-25 is known as the Pan-American Highway in New Mexico, it's safe to surmise that it is one of the official routings (and there is at least one other in the US), making the route thus:
AK11, I-A1(AK2), YK1, BC97, BC2, AB43, AB16. From Edmonton, this is conjecture:
AB2, US89 (or AB2, AB3, AB4, I-15), US 87 onto I-25.
I-25(US85), I-10(US85) into El Paso and Ciudad Juarez.
Conjecture again: MX45(D), MX49(D), MX57(D), MX150(D), MX145(D), MX180(D), MX190(D), Guatemala CA1, El Salvador 1, Honduras 1, Nicaragua (Google doesn't have its route numbers up), Costa Rica 1, 34, 2, Panama (route numbers not up).

[vdeane]

I thought there was no official routing in the US and Canada.

[Bickendan]

There isn't. The closest we have is I-25 in New Mexico. The rest is conjecture and deduction.

[agentsteel53]

not much of a route when the largest and second-largest countries by GDP that are supposedly on the route don't even acknowledge it.

[Bickendan]

It's on par with the UK not acknowledging the E routes that run through the isles

[Grzrd]

Reviving a vintage thread ...

This Jan. 27, 2012 article indicates that Colombia is experiencing a surge in infrastructure construction, and that construction of the Darien Gap "missing link" may be one of the projects:

Construcciones El Condor SA, a Medellin-based construction company, aims to raise as much as 200 billion pesos ($111 million) in an initial public offering to help finance Bogota’s airport expansion and jungle highway projects in areas once overrun by guerrillas.
Proceeds from a sale in the first quarter will help fund a backlog of 1.3 trillion pesos in projects, including the airport, Luz Maria Correa, the company’s president, said in an interview. Condor will bid on new contracts as Colombia works to improve roads and bridges to take full advantage of a U.S. free- trade accord approved by lawmakers in October, she said.
“Colombia’s infrastructure is way behind and the shipping routes must be improved ahead of the free-trade agreement,” Correa said yesterday in an interview in Bogota ....
Condor shares will give investors exposure to Colombia’s surge in building, said Rupert Stebbings, a director for Celfin Capital in Medellin. Shares of Grupo Odinsa SA, which joined with Condor in 2010 to win a 1.1 trillion peso bid to pave a highway that runs to the borders of Panama and Venezuela, have risen 10 percent in the past 12 months, compared with a 10 percent drop in the country’s benchmark stock index. Condor is a minority shareholder in Odinsa.
“Construction in this country will be a driver of growth for the next five to 10 years,” Stebbings said. “Infrastructure are the big elephant projects that could last 10 to 20 years.” ....
Condor is part of the consortium Vias de las Americas SAS, which also includes Odinsa and Valorcon SA, which won in 2010 the contract for the Transversal de Las Americas highway that would improve road networks between Colombia’s borders with Panama and Venezuela. Correa said the company seeks to build a second phase of that project which, if approved by the government, would complete the Panamerican highway network that stretches from Alaska to Chile by building a road through the Darien gap along the jungle-laden Panama border. [emphasis added]

Will Colombian and Panamanian governments finally agree to build it?  If so, maybe it is time for the U.S. and Canada to finally designate an "official route" for the Pan American Highway (I can just imagine the squabbling ... )

[Alps]

Resurrect 789!

[mgk920]

Interesting in that even if/when the Darien Gap is crossed, as the road network in South America is currently wired together, in order to drive from it to, let's say, Rio de Janeiro, without using ferries, one would have to go by way of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, complete with a crossing of the Andes.  This is because in Brazil, there is a complete non-ferry road system disconnect at the Amazon River.  There is a massive new bridge about to open at Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, but it only crosses the Rio Negro, not the nearly Amazon.  The major Brazilian highway that runs southward from Manaus to the rest of Brazil south of the Amazon, along with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, still uses a ferry to cross the Amazon.

I would suspect that the continent is very fertile country for 'fictional highway' musings for South American roadgeeks.



Mike

[Grzrd]

Resurrect 789!

Just don't advertise the fact that 789 once had an ... ahem ... "overlap" with U.S. 666! 

[agentsteel53]

Just don't advertise the fact that 789 once had an ... ahem ... "overlap" with U.S. 666! 

what's wrong with the word "multiplex"?

[Grzrd]

what's wrong with the word "multiplex"?

Nothing. Makes a compelling argument to see ol' 789 back in action.

[agentsteel53]

and ol' 666, for that matter.

can we petition for a reversal of superstitious cowardice? 

[Alps]

Interesting in that even if/when the Darien Gap is crossed, as the road network in South America is currently wired together, in order to drive from it to, let's say, Rio de Janeiro, without using ferries, one would have to go by way of Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, complete with a crossing of the Andes.  This is because in Brazil, there is a complete non-ferry road system disconnect at the Amazon River.  There is a massive new bridge about to open at Manaus, Amazonas state, Brazil, but it only crosses the Rio Negro, not the nearly Amazon.  The major Brazilian highway that runs southward from Manaus to the rest of Brazil south of the Amazon, along with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, still uses a ferry to cross the Amazon.

I would suspect that the continent is very fertile country for 'fictional highway' musings for South American roadgeeks.



Mike

Wonder how far up the Amazon you'd have to go to be able to drive a pier into the river? That's one fierce flow.

[The High Plains Traveler]

and ol' 666, for that matter.

can we petition for a reversal of superstitious cowardice? 

Oh, that's a loaded question in this day when those of us who espouse science are accused of opposing it.