Above: the new highway from Casabito to Jarabacoa (Photo: OP)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez will open the new highway between the towns of Constanza and Jarabacoa on Tuesday, the culmination of a more than $100 million investment.

The reconstruction project was ordered by Fernandez in June 2010 as part of the opening ceremony of another road, connecting the community of Casabito in Constanza with the country’s Duarte highway.

The road, which begins in the community of El Rio, passes through the towns of La Pita, Paso Bajito, La Manacia, El Pedregal, El Salto and other communities.

Odebrecht Engineering and Construction were the contractors on the project, with RV International Consultants handling the components.

The road aims to speed up trade and tourism between the two towns and reduce greenhouse emissions from vehicles by shortening the distance of the trip, along with lowering the number of traffic accidents.

Last week, another major road project in the Dominican got a boost from a $130 million loan to refinance the construction of the country’s Viadom network of toll roads, the largest single no-sovereign guaranteed transaction by the Inter-American Development Bank in the Dominican Republic.