# Puerto Rico Highway 123

Puerto Rico Highway 123 (PR-123) is a secondary highway that connects the city Arecibo to the city of Ponce. It runs through the towns of Utuado and Adjuntas, before reaching Ponce. A parallel road is being built, PR-10, that is expected to take on most of the traffic currently using PR-123.

## History

The road dates from the late 19th century and it started as a road to link the coffee-farming mountain town of Adjuntas to the southern port city of Ponce for the export of coffee. (Eventually the road was completed to the smaller northern port city of Arecibo as well, connecting the mountain town of Utuado in its way.) PR-123 was built under the colonial government of Spain in Puerto Rico to connect the coffee-growing town of Adjuntas to the port city of Ponce as a farm-to-market road. By the early 20th century, it was already graced with many bungalow-style summerhouses.
The construction of the first Ponce-to-Adjuntas road got underway through the dedicated efforts of local political leader, attorney, and composer Olimpio Otero in the late nineteenth century. In 1887, the Ponce Municipal Assembly issued a resolution to use vagrants in the construction of this road, to add to the labor already being performed by prisoners. In 1903, the Puerto Rico Legislature named a bridge on the Ponce to Adjuntas section of the road to his memory for his outstanding dedication to the building of that stretch of the road. The bridge is located in the Magueyes barrio of the municipality of Ponce. During his 1910 surveys, American surveyor William H. Armstrong called the road "a beautiful work of engineering." According to Armstrong, the road was 29 kilometers long and had 87 bridges and culverts.
* Bridge on the PR-123 road from Ponce to Adjuntas, ca. 1890s
* The Ponce-Adjuntas Road in Ponce in 1899
True to its farm-to-market purpose, PR-123 was designed to descend from the mountain town of Adjuntas and make its way through the Cordillera Central until it reached the city of Ponce, edging Plaza Las Delicias, located just two blocks from the Plaza del Mercado de Ponce fruits-and-vegetables central market place. The road then continued south, via Avenida Hostos, to the port of Ponce where coffee and other farm products were shipped to the United States and Europe. Under the Plan Ponce en Marcha, Avenida Hostos will be enlarged from two to four lanes.
PR-123 was signed PR-10 until a new and wider parallel road was built (see PR-10) which adopted its number. This route signing for this old, winding road can still be seen in some old street maps of the city of Ponce.
The stretch from Ponce to Adjuntas was built under the Spanish government. The remainder of the route to Arecibo was built after the Americans took over in 1898. This second stretch opened on July 1, 1904. The whole course of the road from its southern end in Ponce to its northern end in Arecibo was signed as Road No. 6 in those days.
Navigating this first PR-10 road was very tedious as the road was engineered to run from mountainside to mountainside, following the contours of the mountains, and along the natural definitions of the course of rivers, to reach its destination. Such design, however, limited considerably the speed of travel. It was also necessary to drive through the congested downtown areas of the various towns and villages in the way to get from one terminus of the road to the other, something that proved to be very time-consuming as vehicular traffic in those towns and villages increased. Despite these drawbacks, the road was heavily used for many decades. However, as traffic on this road increased in the 1950s and 1960s, the road started to show its limits.
The completed road had a length of 82 km.
* The Ponce–Adjuntas Road in Ponce in 1920, now a section of PR-123
* Another view of a section of the Ponce-Adjuntas Road in 1920

### Construction details

The road was built in 13 segments as follows:
PR-123 construction details by section :
| Section No. | Begin km (mi) | End km (mi) | Length | Town | Builder(s) | Year begun | Year ended | Cost |
| 1 | 0.0 (0) | 15.0 (9.3) | 15.0 (9.3) | Ponce | Spain | unknown | pre-1898 | $146,333.08 |
| 2 | 15.0 (9.3) | 21.0 (13.0) | 6.0 (3.7) | – | PR | | 1903 | $90,000.00 |
| 3 | 21.0 (13.0) | 24.0 (14.9) | 3.0 (1.9) | – | US | unknown | 1901 | $42,527.28 |
| 4 | 24.0 (14.9) | 24.3 (15.1) | 0.3 (0.19) | – | Spain/US | <1898 | 1900 | $17,451.21 |
| 5 | 24.3 (15.1) | 30.1 (18.7) | 5.8 (3.6) | Adjuntas | US | unknown | 1901 | $85,053.72 |
| 6 | 30.1 (18.7) | 32.0 (19.9) | 1.9 (1.2) | – | US | unknown | 1900 | $28,858.92 |
| 7 | 32.0 (19.9) | 38.0 (23.6) | 6.0 (3.7) | – | PR | 1899 | unknown | * |
| 8 | 38.0 (23.6) | 43.2 (26.8) | 5.2 (3.2) | – | PR | unknown | 1903 | $79,000.00 |
| 9 | 43.2 (26.8) | 50.5 (31.4) | 7.3 (4.5) | Utuado | PR | 1899 | 1926? | $118,006.19 |
| 10 | 50.5 (31.4) | 55.0 (34.2) | 4.5 (2.8) | – | Spain | unknown | 1876 | $115,224.98 |
| 11 | 55.0 (34.2) | 64.3 (40.0) | 9.3 (5.8) | – | PR | 1901 | 1926? | $123,658.67 |
| 12 | 64.3 (40.0) | 69.0 (42.9) | 4.7 (2.9) | – | PR | <1898 | 1901 | $36,520.00 |
| 13 | 69.0 (42.9) | 81.5 (50.6) | 12.5 (7.8) | Arecibo | PR | 1898 | 1902 | $125,850.23 |
* ↑ Segment No. 6 funds were used to build segment No. 7 as well.
* ↑ Segment No. 7 was built with funds from segment No. 6.

### Characteristics

The road is prone to landslides and closings due to frequent heavy rains.
* Pier at the end of PR-123, near El Ancla in Playa, Ponce - near the Southern terminus of PR-123
* PR-123, north of PR-9 in Barrio Magueyes, Ponce, Puerto Rico, looking north
* Río de Caguana as seen from PR-123 in Utuado
* Lago Dos Bocas, view from the bridge on the dam facing south, PR-123

## Major intersections

| Municipality | Location | km | mi | Destinations | Notes |
| Ponce | Playa | 0.0 | 0.0 | PR-12 (Avenida Santiago de los Caballeros) – Ponce | Southern terminus of PR-123 |
| Ponce | Playa | 1.6 | 0.99 | Southern terminus of the Carretera Central | Southern terminus of the Carretera Central |
| Ponce | Playa | 1.7– 1.8 | 1.1– 1.1 | PR-585 north (Avenida Padre Noel) – Ponce | |
| Ponce | Playa | 3.2 | 2.0 | Puente del Río Portugués over the Río Portugués | Puente del Río Portugués over the Río Portugués |
| Ponce | Playa | 3.5 | 2.2 | PR-2 (Ponce Bypass) – Mayagüez, San Juan | |
| Ponce | Canas Urbano | 4.3– 4.4 | 2.7– 2.7 | PR-163 (Bulevar Luis A. Ferré Aguayo) – Mayagüez, San Juan | |
| Ponce | Primero–Cuarto line | 4.6 | 2.9 | PR-14 north (Calle Salud) / PR-123P south (Calle Ferrocarril) – Ponce | One-way streets; the Carretera Central continues toward Juana Díaz; PR-123P southbound access via Calle Aurora |
| Ponce | Primero–Cuarto– Segundo–Tercero quadripoint | 5.2 | 3.2 | PR-1P (Calle Marina) / PR-133 east (Calle Comercio) – Ponce | One-way streets |
| Ponce | Primero–Segundo line | 5.3 | 3.3 | PR-14R (Calle Unión) / PR-123P south (Calle Concordia) – Ponce | One-way streets; PR-14R northbound access via PR-14 |
| Ponce | Primero–Segundo line | 5.5 | 3.4 | PR-1 (Calle Simón de la Torre) – Ponce | One-way street; northbound access via PR-1P |
| Ponce | Segundo–Canas Urbano– Primero tripoint | 6.3 | 3.9 | PR-2R south (Carretera Pámpanos) – Guayanilla | |
| Ponce | Canas Urbano | 7.3 | 4.5 | PR-132 west – Peñuelas | |
| Ponce | Magueyes Urbano | 9.8 | 6.1 | PR-9 (Ronda de Circunvalación Roman Baldorioty de Castro) – Ponce, Adjuntas | |
| Ponce | Magueyes | 10.9 | 6.8 | PR-501 – Marueño | |
| Ponce | Guaraguao | 21.6 | 13.4 | PR-501 – Guaraguao | |
| Ponce | Guaraguao | 24.4 | 15.2 | PR-515 – Guaraguao | |
| Ponce | Guaraguao | 25.0– 25.1 | 15.5– 15.6 | PR-516 – Guaraguao | |
| Adjuntas | Saltillo | 30.6 | 19.0 | PR-143 (Ruta Panorámica) – Barranquitas | Southern terminus of the Ruta Panorámica concurrency; the Ruta Panorámica continues toward Utuado |
| Adjuntas | Adjuntas barrio-pueblo | 34.3 | 21.3 | PR-518 (Ruta Panorámica) – Saltillo | Northern terminus of the Ruta Panorámica concurrency; the Ruta Panorámica continues toward Lares |
| Adjuntas | Adjuntas barrio-pueblo | 35.3– 35.4 | 21.9– 22.0 | PR-521 (Calle Luis Muñoz Rivera) / PR-5516 north (Calle Rodulfo González) – Utuado | One-way streets; PR-521 access via Calle Rius Rivera |
| Adjuntas | Adjuntas barrio-pueblo | 35.7– 35.8 | 22.2– 22.2 | Puente Chavier over the Río Cidra | Puente Chavier over the Río Cidra |
| Adjuntas | Garzas | 37.5 | 23.3 | PR-522 – Garzas | |
| Adjuntas | Juan González | 37.7 | 23.4 | PR-5518 east to PR-10 (Carretera Rigoberto "Pucho" Ramos Aquino) – Ponce | |
| Adjuntas | Juan González | 38.0 | 23.6 | PR-135 west (Carretera Francisco L. Báez Cruz) – Lares | |
| Adjuntas | Juan González | 38.1 | 23.7 | PR-10 (Carretera Rigoberto "Pucho" Ramos Aquino) – Ponce | One-way ramp; southbound access via PR-5518 |
| Adjuntas | Pellejas | 44.7 | 27.8 | PR-524 – Pellejas | |
| Utuado | Arenas | 48.7 | 30.3 | Puente Blanco over the Río Pellejas | Puente Blanco over the Río Pellejas |
| Utuado | Arenas | 49.5 | 30.8 | PR-10 north (Carretera Félix Ramón "Moncho" Estévez Datis) – Utuado, Arecibo | |
| Utuado | Arenas | 53.5 | 33.2 | PR-6103 to PR-10 (Carretera Félix Ramón "Moncho" Estévez Datis) – Arecibo | |
| Utuado | Utuado barrio-pueblo | 55.4– 55.5 | 34.4– 34.5 | PR-5523 – Arenas | |
| Utuado | Utuado barrio-pueblo | 55.5– 55.6 | 34.5– 34.5 | PR-6111 (Avenida Guillermo Esteves) – Utuado | |
| Utuado | Utuado barrio-pueblo | 55.6– 55.7 | 34.5– 34.6 | Puente de Utuado over the Río Grande de Arecibo | Puente de Utuado over the Río Grande de Arecibo |
| Utuado | Utuado barrio-pueblo | 55.760.6 | 34.637.7 | PR-111 east (Avenida Fernando L. Ribas Dominicci) – Jayuya | Eastern terminus of PR-111 concurrency |
| Utuado | Utuado barrio-pueblo | 60.355.8 | 37.534.7 | PR-111 west (Calle María M. Fernández Cruz) – Lares | Western terminus of PR-111 concurrency |
| Utuado | Río Abajo | 59.9– 60.0 | 37.2– 37.3 | PR-6613 – Río Abajo | |
| Arecibo | Río Arriba | 68.8 | 42.8 | PR-146 east – Ciales | |
| Arecibo | Río Arriba | 70.5– 70.6 | 43.8– 43.9 | PR-6621 – Río Arriba | |
| Arecibo | Río Arriba | 70.6 | 43.9 | PR-621 west to PR-10 – Arecibo, Utuado | |
| Arecibo | Hato Viejo | 78.40 | 48.72 | PR-10 north / PR-6609 (Carretera Jesús M. González García) – Arecibo | Northern terminus of PR-123; partial cloverleaf interchange; no entrance ramp to PR-10 southbound |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus Incomplete access Route transition ||||||
* 1 2 Kilometer markers represent the distance along PR-111 rather than PR-123.