RN-21

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RN-21
Boulevard Diego de Holguin
Route information
Length:	9.95 km (6.18 mi)
Major junctions
From:	CA-1 East–West - Panamerican Highway, Santa Tecla, La Libertad
	Calle Real - Santa Tecla 7a Avenida Norte - Santa Tecla Boulevard Merliot - Antiguo Cuscatlan Avenida Jerusalem - San Salvador Alameda Manuel Enrique Araujo - San Salvador
To:	RN-5 North–South - Boulevard Los Proceres/Autopista a Comalapa, San Salvador, San Salvador
Highway system
Highways in El Salvador

The RN-21 (East–West) or also known as Boulevard Diego de Holguin is the very first freeway in El Salvador, and in Central America. The freeway runs on the northern area of the city of Santa Tecla, La Libertad, it has a small portion serving Antiguo Cuscatlan, La Libertad, and in the end of the freeway it merges with the RN-5 (East–West, Boulevard de Los Proceres/Autopista del Aeropuerto) in San Salvador, El Salvador. The total span of the RN-21 is 9.35 kilometres (5.81 mi) and its currently working as the traffic reliever in the metropolitan area. The RN-21 was named in honor of the first mayor of San Salvador, Diego de Holguin. The first phase of the highway was completed in 2009, and the second phase is under construction and is due in November 2012.^[1]

History

The plan for the RN-21 was made in 2006 due to the increasing amount of vehicular traffic in the west side of the San Salvador Metropolitan Area, which consist of three cities: Santa Tecla, Antiguo Cuscatlan, and San Salvador. The reason why this freeway was more than needed was because of the break in CA-1 Panamerican Highway; the highway breaks for 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) at the historic downtown of Santa Tecla, where the traffic flow collapses almost everyday during rush hour in the morning and in the late afternoon.^[2] A lot of people needed to use this road because it was the only exit form the metropolitan area towards the western departments in the country. The RN-21 has a function of a "periferico" it goes around the northern side of the area, then down on the west to divert traffic from the historic downtown.

Phases of construction

The first phase of the RN-21 was completed and opened in November 2009, and Phase II was supposed to start on January 2010; there was a controversy during this period of time. Apparently the current minister of public works stole the money that was left to built the Phase II, he was replaced and charged for his crime. Phase II was abandoned until early December 2011, when the Ministry of Public Works managed to get back all the money need to re-start the construction and to pay for the damage of the foundations of Phase II due to the storm outbreak in the country this past rainy season (May – November 2011).^[3]

The Minister of Public Works (MOP-Ministerio de Obras Publicas), Gerson Martinez announced that the period in which the RN-21 Boulevard Diego de Holguin will be completed in is 360 days.^[4] Just as Phase I of the RN-21, the second phase will have a total of six lanes (three in each direction) with a width of 3.65 metres (12.0 ft) and emergency lanes on the shoulders with a width of 2.5 metres (8.2 ft). This work, besides giving a boost to the development of the country, will generate hundreds of direct and indirect jobs and most importantly will be the fastest and easiest way to take traffic west of the country to go to San Salvador and back without need to go through Santa Tecla. According to traffic studies for this boulevard will be circulating daily over 100,000 vehicles, including transport, loading and collective. The total cost of the second phase will be that of $31,925,558 (USD).^[5][6]

Exits list

When fully completed the RN-21 has a total of 6 Interchanges and 17 exits. For exits the even numbers for the westbound lanes, and odd numbers for the eastbound lanes.

• Exits 7, 8 and 10 are in a roundabout interchange available both for eastbound and westbound.
• Exit 9 does not exist yet; to keep the order, exit 9 was renamed exit 10.

Speed Limit	Interchange	Exit Numbers	Road/Highway (Autopista)	City	km (west-east)
		1-2	CA-1 Panamerican Highway Carretera Panamericana	Santa Tecla	0
		3-4	Calle Real	Santa Tecla	0.74
		5-6	7ª Avenida Norte	Santa Tecla	3.33
		7 8 10	Boulevard Merliot	Antiguo Cuscatlan	5.64
		11 12 13 14	Avenida Jerusalem	San Salvador	7.11
		15 16 17 18	Alameda Manuel Enrique Araujo - RN-5 Boulevard Los Procers (Autopista Comalapa)	San Salvador	9.9

References