BajaNomad

Hwy. 1 El Rosario to Laguna Chapala

David K - 3-5-2017 at 08:52 PM

Beginning just north of Cataviña to Laguna Chapala (today) & all the way to the state border by Guerrero Negro (last month)...
Lots and lots of potholes. Worst it's been since the 80s! A crew is shoveling cold asphalt into the holes a few clicks south of Cataviña, but thats it.

Hwy. 5 north of Puertectos to San Felipe airport road also getting more holes. 2 kms. were made nice in Arroyo Matomí.





woody with a view - 3-5-2017 at 09:13 PM

Thanks for expanding on the obvious!

Barry A. - 3-5-2017 at 09:30 PM

Thanks, David. Useful information to know, and a shame that it can't be kept up with in repairs. I thought the days of potholes were almost over.

David K - 3-5-2017 at 10:36 PM

Quote: Originally posted by woody with a view  
Thanks for expanding on the obvious!


What was obvious??? It's a report from the road today. Some people are interested and we see questions frequently on this. I don't get your comment, sorry.

Meany - 3-6-2017 at 07:48 AM

Thanks Dave for the report. I'll be heading that way in a couple of weeks with a trailer. Will slow down. :light:

David K - 3-6-2017 at 09:32 AM

Have a great time!

chavycha - 3-6-2017 at 10:41 AM

Just did the drive on Sunday evening. It is indeed pretty bad as a whole, though I'd exclude the stretch from El Rosario to about 10km north of Catavina. That seemed to have fewer craters than the Catavina - Punta Prieta reach.

The other area that is awful is Jesus Maria to Guerrero, especially the southbound lane.

The thing is that there's no one or two bad spots, it's just constant chuck-hole dodging for miles and miles on end. In many spots, 40mph was about the top speed we could safely go with our Jeep and boat trailer - this includes the long straightaways where you used to be able to make up some time.

[Edited on 3-7-2017 by chavycha]

thebajarunner - 3-6-2017 at 01:04 PM

No way to "fix" this with a couple guys shoveling patch material into the holes.
In its present condition it will need a complete repave.
Really the best solution will be to remove the present pavement, put down a decent layer of base rock and then about four inches of A/C
Not likely to happen, sad to say

The more holes, the more ways for water to get under the surface
Then the semis run over it and its all going to come up.

David K - 3-6-2017 at 04:54 PM

Ed at Baja's Best B&B theorized this morning that since they are widening the old 19' wide highway, they won't fix the old one. Of course, at 10 kms. of new road at a time, it may be decades to get the 200 miles of old highway between San Quintin and the Eagle replaced!

mickeykreg - 3-6-2017 at 08:33 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
Beginning just north of Cataviña to Laguna Chapala (today) & all the way to the state border by Guerrero Negro (last month)...
Lots and lots of potholes. Worst it's been since the 80s! A crew is shoveling cold asphalt into the holes a few clicks south of Cataviña, but thats it.

Hwy. 5 north of Puertectos to San Felipe airport road also getting more holes. 2 kms. were made nice in Arroyo Matomí.


I thought that was you going the other way! I was going towards San Felipe right at the split.
After going 40mph all the way from Catavina I thought it couldn't get worse....then we turned onto 5. Sheesh, I'll be surprised if my rig isn't broken in half.

David K - 3-6-2017 at 11:09 PM

Hi Micky!
My Tacoma is silver with 4 off road lights in front.
That Chapala valley 4 miles was muy malo!

bkbend - 3-7-2017 at 10:59 AM

The pothole fixers were between Jesus Maria and Guerrero Negro yesterday. It looked like they were filling one out of three leaving a path to avoid the other two. The potholes keep you from falling asleep at the wheel, so they don't want to eliminate them.