Puerto Rico Highway 12 Explained

State:	PR
Type:	PR
Route:	12
Alternate Name:	Spanish; Castilian: Avenida Santiago de los Caballeros
Map:	Map of PR-12.svg
Maint:	Puerto Rico DTPW
Length Km:	6.4
Direction A:	South
Terminus A:	Port of Ponce in Playa
Junction:	in Playa Avenida Caribe in Playa in Playa Avenida Rafael Cordero Santiago in Playa in San Antón in San Antón in San Antón in San Antón
Direction B:	North
Terminus B:	in Machuelo Abajo
Established:	1960^[1] ^[2]
Municipalities:	Ponce
Previous Type:	PR
Previous Route:	10
Next Type:	Urban
Next Route:	14

Puerto Rico Highway 12 (PR-12), also called Avenida Malecón,^[3] and Avenida Santiago de los Caballeros, is a 6.4-kilometer,^[4] limited-access highway entirely located within the city limits of Ponce, Puerto Rico, and connecting Puerto Rico Highway 14 to the La Guancha area in Barrio Playa in Ponce.^[5] It is similar to a freeway but has one traffic light near its intersection with PR-14. In addition to its northern and southern terminus, the highway has four full interchange exits: PR-52, PR-2, PR-133/Calle Comercio, and Avenida Las Américas. Since PR-12's southern terminus is at the Port of Ponce, its traffic volume is expected to grow as construction in the new Port of the Americas is completed.^[6]

History

The 2.5 kilometer section of this road, from the Ponce Bypass to just a few feet from the Caribbean Sea at PR-123, was the first segment built; it was built in 1960.^[1] It was called "Avenida Malecón" (Pier Avenue), as it led from the then-urbanized area of Ponce to the Ponce wharf. The segment north of PR-12's intersection with PR-2, that is, between PR-2 and Avenida Tito Castro was built in the 1990s, and completed in 2002, as part of the Ponce en Marcha project.^[7]

PR-12 used to be signed as part of 'PR-14' before construction of the new PR-10 took place. The PR-14 signing has since been moved into another route (ending at Monumento a la abolición de la esclavitud, near downtown Ponce, while the PR-12 signing was assigned to the southernmost 5.28 kilometers of the old PR-14 route. As of 2008, the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation and Public Works had not yet updated the signing on the road, but by 2011 it had.

See also

• List of highways in Ponce, Puerto Rico
• List of streets in Ponce, Puerto Rico

Notes and References

1. Carmelo Rosario Natal. Ponce En Su Historia Moderna: 1945–2002. Published by Secretaría de Cultura y Turismo of the Government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2003. p. 53.
2. The segment south of the Ponce Bypass (PR-2) was built in 1960. The segment north of PR-2 was built in the 1990s, and completed in 2002.
3. http://www.gis.otg.gobierno.pr/webcensus/ General Purpose Population Data, Census 2000. Unidad de Sistemas de Información Geográfica, Área de Tecnología de Información Gubernamental, Oficina de Gerencia y Presupuesto. Gobierno de Puerto Rico.
4. http://www.dtop.gov.pr/carretera/det_content.asp?cn_id=126 Guía de Carreteras Principales, Expresos y Autopistas. (In Spanish) Puerto Rico Autoridad de Carreteras y Transportacion (ACT). 17 November 2010.
5. Book: Transito Promedio Diario . PDF . es . Average Daily Traffic (AADT) . Department of Transportation and Public Works. . Highways and Transportation Authority. Office of Traffic Data Compilation and Analysis. . San Juan, PR . 2010 . 28–30 . Report . 9 May 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101105005724/http://sashto.dtop.gov.pr/ACT/TRANSIT_DATA_REPORT_2000-2009.pdf . 5 November 2010 . dead .
6. http://www.portoftheamericas.com/about.project/phases.htm Links to Port of the Americas
7. Neysa Rodriguez Deynes. Brevario sobre la Historia de Ponce. Published by Oficina de Cultura y Turismo of the Government of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 2002. p. 111.