Rain-induced landslides close brand-new Jala-Compostela highway in Nayarit
New Jala highway closed at least two weeks
Brand-new sections of road on the highway between Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, closed due to landslides last weekend, could reopen in 15 to 20 days, says the Nayarit office of the federal Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT).
Heavy rains have been blamed for the slides on the Jala-Compostela and Ramal-Compostela highways, which were initially expected to remain closed for a month.
The Jala-Compostela highway has only been operational since April.
An SCT official said the slides were a result of the instability of the mountainsides above the highways, and predicted it would take several years for the ground to stabilize.
Crews will remove some 50,000 cubic meters of material from hillsides above the highway as a temporary measure to get traffic moving again before further work is done to stabilize the ground. At least one 20-meter-high berm will be constructed as a retaining wall.
Source: El Informador (sp), Reforma (sp), Publimetro (sp)