BajaNomad

Mex. 1 in deteriorated condition - potholes OMG

wilderone - 3-26-2018 at 09:41 AM

Traveled March 11, returned March 23. Never seen Mex. 1 in such bad condition. There is new paving just north and ending at Guayaquil (north of Catavina); but thereafter - until Baja Sur (south of Guerrero Negro) -- there are seriously numerous, large and deep potholes, along with deteriorated bumpy pavement. There are a couple newly paved stretches - possibly the plan is to repave all of it, and in the intervening 12 days of my trip, there were some potholes filled near Catavina (a drop in the bucket). A couple are so large and wide, you can't go around or skim over - I braked hard to avoid driving into one and was almost rear-ended. Another incident, a huge semi truck was behind me wanting to pass, but potholes abounded and I couldn't slow down or stop or pull over because the truck was on my bumper - had to swerve around potholes as he attempted to start passing me. Really very dangerous. On the plus side, the traffic is relatively light, and the truck traffic almost decimated, which allowed me to drive 35-40 mph to get past and swerve around or drive down the middle of the lanes to avoid the worst sections. Hundreds of miles of this. Also, the pavement is gone in the two large dips near Catavina that usually wash out - these sections seem to be undergoing a major rebuilding - maybe a bridge is planned. I actually saw no construction work being done at all in all of Baja norte, so will be slow to improve I think.

Cappy - 3-26-2018 at 09:47 AM

Thank you for the report. On my way next few weeks

toronja - 3-26-2018 at 10:33 AM

Ooooof. Thanks for the update. We really wanted to visit friends in Ensenada on our way north, but sounds like Mex 5 is a comparative cakewalk right now.

[Edited on 3-26-2018 by toronja]

tobias - 3-26-2018 at 01:11 PM

Heading back that way soon.
Below the 5 a few months ago it was brutal. Hope its not much worse

Bob and Susan - 3-26-2018 at 01:17 PM

talked to someone that used mex5 yesterday///

he said the dirt part is REALLY BAD

23 miles of bad road


David K - 3-26-2018 at 01:21 PM

You guys would have freaked if you drove it around 1980-1984! The same area as today, only worse... It is just far from cities so no 'important' people complained!!! We didn't have a Hwy. 5 option either as it took 5 hours just to drive the 45 miles from Gonzaga to Puertecitos then (in 4WD)!

English bob - 3-26-2018 at 02:02 PM

Thanks for this...we leave to go north April 4th

rts551 - 3-26-2018 at 02:08 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
You guys would have freaked if you drove it around 1980-1984! The same area as today, only worse... It is just far from cities so no 'important' people complained!!! We didn't have a Hwy. 5 option either as it took 5 hours just to drive the 45 miles from Gonzaga to Puertecitos then (in 4WD)!


No David...The potholes are worse now because they are much deeper. Truck traffic I assume. The deteriorated road in the 80's did not eat wheels and suspensions like these do...Just made us go slow.

rts551 - 3-26-2018 at 02:16 PM

Someone just reported over on TalkBaja of seeing paving machines on 5. Don't know if it is true or not but I will be going through there in another week.

willardguy - 3-26-2018 at 02:43 PM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
You guys would have freaked if you drove it around 1980-1984! The same area as today, only worse... It is just far from cities so no 'important' people complained!!! We didn't have a Hwy. 5 option either as it took 5 hours just to drive the 45 miles from Gonzaga to Puertecitos then (in 4WD)!


lol.....:no:

David K - 3-26-2018 at 02:54 PM

It all depends when you drive it compared to when a crew was filling it with dirt or blacktop as to how deep they are. I remember areas around Punta Prieta with sections like or worse than the first 25 miles to Punta Abreojos was in 2017 and in 2016 on my previous trip! Just got to go slow! The Tortugas/ Asuncion road was bad in section in 2012. It may be based around elections, too?

basautter - 3-26-2018 at 06:23 PM

Good to know. I am heading through next month. Thanks for the report.

bajadogs - 3-26-2018 at 06:47 PM

I just drove this both directions. Heading south past El Rosario expect the nasty potholes to start abruptly at KM 145 and expect it way beyond Catavina. It is bad through Cataviña and getting worse. One horrible pothole in an arroyo just north of Sara Maria the size of a hot tub. Lots of cattle. DO NOT consider driving at night.

[Edited on 3-27-2018 by bajadogs]

elgatoloco - 3-26-2018 at 11:10 PM

Drove down the 18th as far as Sierra San Francisco and then a 12 hour run back up yesterday. Its as bad as advertised and as bad as its been in places for a long time. Most of the road is a-ok its just where its bad its bad. I drive an F-250 with BFG's & Bilstiens so it wasn't as bad for me. :saint: There were a LOT of passenger type vehicles and trucks pulling 5th wheels slowing down to a stop at some of the big ones including the hot tub. The swerve game was in full mode. It seemed that everyone with a tent was loaded up and heading south for a warm beach some where. It made it hard to pass and you had to be extra vigilant when using the other lane to avoid some of the holes. Semana Santa is in full swing. YMMV. :dudette:

billklaser - 3-27-2018 at 07:24 AM

Driving to Loreto tomorrow. With current conditions I recommend to slow down. I noticed on my last trip in Jan. small cars seem to be traveling the fastest. They will suffer more damage when hitting the deep " Baches", Just take more time slow down.

bkbend - 3-27-2018 at 09:36 AM

Quote: Originally posted by bajadogs  
I just drove this both directions. Heading south past El Rosario expect the nasty potholes to start abruptly at KM 145 and expect it way beyond Catavina. It is bad through Cataviña and getting worse. One horrible pothole in an arroyo just north of Sara Maria the size of a hot tub. Lots of cattle. DO NOT consider driving at night.

[Edited on 3-27-2018 by bajadogs]


I'll second the cattle hazard. We drove from Bahia de los Angeles to Loreto and back last week and saw much more cattle than usual munching right at the roadside. When you are in pothole dodging mode the cows seem to pop up out of nowhere.

BajaGringo - 3-27-2018 at 09:37 AM

Gotta love the Mexican meme response to everything down here...



Pothole-03.jpg - 42kB

StuckSucks - 3-27-2018 at 10:06 AM

Not quite sure what all the pothole hysteria is all about. I drove thru there twice in November -- we saw these guys working on Highway 1, maybe 6-8 miles north of the Bay of LA turnoff. And yes, a great place to pass.

micah202 - 3-27-2018 at 10:14 AM

Quote: Originally posted by David K  
You guys would have freaked if you drove it around 1980-1984! The same area as today, only worse... It is just far from cities so no 'important' people complained!!! We didn't have a Hwy. 5 option either as it took 5 hours just to drive the 45 miles from Gonzaga to Puertecitos then (in 4WD)!


Yah, I remember that,, GF and I did it in a 2wd dodge van,,hadn't seen anything like that road in my life before. Or since! <;~O. We saw 'Peurtocitos Highway' on the roadmap,, looked like a bit of a scenic shortcut. Little did we know it would be 3-4 daze before finding highway one again.

I remember many miles on intense washboard, then driving along a cliff edge, broken cars abandoned, maneuvering around boulders on what was left of the road. Then there was a very large arroyo, down, down, sand getting softer, knowing we'd be totally stuck if we stopped.... then saw a break in the road! :wow:. Locals were great,,, came along, pulled us out, and refused our peso offerings of gratitude.

Baja 'adventurers' today are a rather different bunch. <;~/

micah202 - 3-27-2018 at 10:25 AM

Quote: Originally posted by bajadogs  
.......DO NOT consider driving at night. ]


Did the whole stretch from Rosarito N to El Rosario at night, with a stop in Guerro Negro with Shari and the grays the day between.

I found the night driving all right, just wait for someone slow, and follow in behind. There's little traffic, darkness and headlights give good warning of oncoming traffic., lights and the vehicle ahead highlight the potholes, and the only cows to worry about are the kamikaze jumpers. You 'just' need a night driving mentality, and some Ativan if there's a wife onboard. <;~l



[Edited on 3-27-2018 by micah202]

rts551 - 3-27-2018 at 10:54 AM

Quote: Originally posted by StuckSucks  
Not quite sure what all the pothole hysteria is all about. I drove thru there twice in November -- we saw these guys working on Highway 1, maybe 6-8 miles north of the Bay of LA turnoff. And yes, a great place to pass.




They only did a short distance and then left.

micah202 - 3-27-2018 at 11:36 AM

Quote: Originally posted by rts551  
Quote: Originally posted by StuckSucks  
Not quite sure what all the pothole hysteria is all about. I drove thru there twice in November -- we saw these guys working on Highway 1, maybe 6-8 miles north of the Bay of LA turnoff. And yes, a great place to pass.

They only did a short distance and then left.


Yah, a bit of a teaser that. You get to a newly paved section, think it's all good, speed up, and WHAM,, it starts again. <;~\

StuckSucks - 3-27-2018 at 01:21 PM

Quote: Originally posted by micah202  
Quote: Originally posted by rts551  
Quote: Originally posted by StuckSucks  
Not quite sure what all the pothole hysteria is all about. I drove thru there twice in November -- we saw these guys working on Highway 1, maybe 6-8 miles north of the Bay of LA turnoff. And yes, a great place to pass.

They only did a short distance and then left.


Yah, a bit of a teaser that. You get to a newly paved section, think it's all good, speed up, and WHAM,, it starts again. <;~\


Their secret weapon: our complacency

wiltonh - 3-27-2018 at 09:19 PM

We did Highway 1 from La Paz to Mex 5 and then up through San Felipe. The biggest pot hole was on Highway 1 before the turn off. It looked more like a grave than a pot hole. As we approached there was an 18 wheeler almost stopped going through. I would guess it was 6 to 8 feet wide and maybe 12 to 14 inches deep. It could easily break an axle if hit at speed. There was a crew filling pot holes to the North so maybe they will get that one fixed. It would take a lot of patch to fill that hole.

The dirt portion of Mex 5 was a little rough in the construction area but they let you drive on the new road in some places. We were driving a Dodge van and it took about 1.5 hours and the odometer said it was 21 miles.

The real surprise to me was the condition of the road after the construction. The first part was new and very nice but then you got in to older sections where there were lots of pot holes. In general they were not deep like the one I saw on Highway 1 but they did slow us down. Once you get to San Felipe the road was good all the way to the border.

Rossman - 3-28-2018 at 04:57 AM

I just drove the stretch from Gonzaga to Asuncion yesterday, for the 4th time in 3 weeks. There was some stretches between Chapala and BOLA cutoff that had been freshly patched as compared to 2 weeks ago. It was a very good patching job too, by filling all of the holes, not just one here and one there. The patching was already starting to deteriorate so it probably won't be long before it is back to the same condition. The road from Punta Prieta to the Santa Rosaliita cutoff has been getting worse over the past 6 months. A lot of big, deep, and unavoidable potholes. Yesterday there was also some signs of fresh patching in that stretch but to rhyme or reason to the patching. One mile of fresh patches and then 5 miles not being touched and then 1/2 mile of fresh patches. The didn't even choose the worst of the worst areas to patch.

As for the 23 mile stretch, I've driven it probably driven it in excess of 20 times since it became "the 23 mile stretch", in good and bad conditions, and in truth, the drive time from my worst trip to my best trip has not varied more than 8 minutes. For me, in my vehicle, the way I drive, it is 1 hour and 10 minutes from pavement to pavement. Yesterday it was an hour and 7 minutes, so a bit better than the average. And yes, a lot of pavement going down on the new road but a hell of a lot more to do to even get ready for paving in most visible areas.

billklaser - 3-30-2018 at 07:39 AM

Just drove from San Diego to Loreto yesterday. There are still areas to be fixed but much better than mid January. Worst area for potholes is approx. 10 to 20 miles north of Catavina. Slow way down through there. Another bad spot is the road south of Punta Prieta as mentioned. Jesus Maria to Guerro Negro some bad potholes. South of Guerro good except going through Santa Rosalia, however new pavement through town is about half done. The problem areas still need attention, but I was glad to see work being done.

David K - 3-30-2018 at 08:02 AM

Guerrero Negro (it means Black Warrior, the name of a whaling ship that sunk in the lagoon that was called Frenchman's Lagoon before).

Here's the rest of the story: https://www.bajabound.com/bajaadventures/bajatravel/guerrero...

billklaser - 3-30-2018 at 08:14 AM

David, thanks for teaching me how to spell "Guerrero" correctly. Good information.

David K - 3-30-2018 at 09:24 AM

No charge Bill! That is perhaps the most misspelled place in Baja?

It joins a few others that many people have trouble getting right: :biggrin:

Santa Rosalillita
San Francisquito
Los Barriles
Puertecitos
Alfonsina's
Santo Tomás
San Vicente
Mulegé
Loreto
Mexicali
Rosarito
San Quintín

... to name a few! :lol:

billklaser - 4-11-2018 at 07:30 AM

Just drove back from Loreto to San Diego. Most of the bad pothole areas have now been patched. Still some open holes between Guerrero Negro and Jesus Maria. Not too many but hard to see. Many of the patched areas have left a rough road, but at least for now the holes are filled.