page_title: Transportation in Mexico
section_title: Roadways
hierarchical_section_title: Transportation in Mexico / Roadways
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo taken by Ashig84 in June of 2006.
context_page_description: As the third largest and second most populous country in Latin America, Mexico has developed an extensive transportation network to meet the needs of the economy. As with communications, transportation in Mexico is regulated by the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation, a federal executive cabinet branch.
context_section_description: The roadway network in Mexico is extensive and all areas in the country are covered by it. The roadway network in Mexico has an extent of 366,095 km (227,481 mi), of which 116,802 km (72,577 mi) are paved, making it the largest paved-roadway network in Latin America. Of these, 10,474 km (6,508 mi) are multi-lane expressways: 9,544 km (5,930 mi) are four-lane highways and the rest have 6 or more lanes.
  The highway network in Mexico is classified by number of lanes and type of access. The great majority of the network is composed of undivided or divided two-lane highways—with or without shoulders, and are known simply as carreteras. Four or more-lane freeways or expressways, with restricted or unrestricted access are known as autopistas.  Speed limits in two-lane highways can vary depending on terrain conditions. The speed limit in multi-lane freeways or expressways is on average 110 km/h (70 mph) for automobiles and 95 km/h (60 mph) for buses and trucks.
  The expressways are, for the most part, toll roads or autopistas de cuota. Non-toll roads are referred to as carreteras libres (free-roads). Most toll expressways have emergency telephone booths, water wells and emergency braking ramps at short intervals. The toll usually includes a "travelers' insurance" (seguro del viajero) should an accident occur within the freeway. The tolls expressways are, on average, among the most expensive in the world, according to a comparative study realized in 2004 by the Chamber of Deputies. The most traveled freeways are those that link the three most populous cities in Mexico—Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey—in the form of a triangle.
  No federal freeway or expressway crosses a city; toll expressways are either turned into toll bypasses (libramientos) often used as toll or free ring roads (periféricos), or are transformed into major arterial roads, even if they are, in function, freeways with restricted access.
  Mexican highways are assigned a one to three-digit number. North-south highways are assigned odd numbers whereas east-west highways are assigned even numbers. Toll expressways usually run parallel to a free road, and therefore, are assigned the same number with the letter "D" added. (For example, the undivided two-lane highway connecting Mexico City and Puebla is MX 150 , whereas the six-lane toll expressway is MX 150D).
  Mexico has had difficulty in building an integrated highway network due to the country's orography and landscape characteristics—most of the country is crossed by high-altitude ranges of mountains. Over the last two decades, Mexico has made impressive investments in order to improve its road infrastructure and connect main cities and towns across the country. In spite of its extension and recent development, the roadway network in Mexico is still inadequate to meet the current needs of the population and, except for the toll roads, they are often not adequately maintained.
  An additional problem is that in the center of the country the roads run into metropolitan Mexico City from regional centers and there are few roads which run peripherically so as to connect the other regional centers without running through the congestion around the capital. The federal government (in partnership with the government of Mexico State and the Federal District) has tried to alleviate this problem by constructing a tolled Mexico City bypass highway, named "Arco Norte," partially opened in 2009.
caption: Zacatal Bridge, the longest bridge in the state and at the time of opening the longest in Mexico.
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