Challenging Road Project Cuts across the Heart of Coxen Hole

The PO-35 passing across Coxen Hole is not just a national highway, it is a road that has the highest commercial use on the island and has to be integrated into the city walkways and drainage. “You need to make it [Coxen Hole] more of a city than a town,” said Ing. Castillo, infrastructure chief of the Roatan Municipality.

The road itself will be 15 meter wide with a 1.5 meter sidewalks, two meter wide cycling lanes. And finally a 10 meter wide motor vehicle road. The construction of the six month contract began in June and its goal is to be finished by Christmas 2024.

It is a road that has the highest commercial use on the island.

The new road will benefit drivers, business owners, increase land prices, create additional commercial lots, and provide a more first glance of the island four tourists arriving at the Juan Manuel Galvéz international airport. “In the end, everyone is benefiting because they have more roads and more urban spaces they can use,” said Ing. Castillo.

Whereas in other parts of the paving projects Roatan Municipality would do the groundwork and preparation for the road, and would bid out only the road paving portion of the project. This time the roadwork was too complex and coordination between the preparation and paving as well. “Given the complexity of this contract, we decided to give the entire contract to one company,” said Ing. Castillo. Elite, a construction company based in French Harbour, who won the bid for the project.

The cost of the contract is Lps. 59.9 million [$2.4 million] and the 1.5 kilometer road project is the most complex and expensive per kilometer the Bay Islands have ever seen. Part of the expense is because of the retention walls needed to be constructed at the site. “Half the road has a need for retention walls,” said Ing Castillo. Whereas prior only in French Harbour and in Los Fuertes the retention walls had to be built. Yet another expense paid by Roatan taxpayers via Roatan municipality was the supervision contract of Lps. 2.5 million awarded to Consultores en Ingeniería [CINSA].

The road rises from just a few meters above sea level at the airport to around 50 meters at its crest at Monkey hill road. The design of the new road attempts to lessen the hills and avoid blind hills. “We are trying to improve the vertical curvatures of the road,” said Ing. Castillo. “We are filling it in some spots and cutting it off in others. It is all about creating a win-win.”

The project is not just a national road construction, but building an urban road and with urban spaces that integrate the road with surrounding businesses and lots. Water and sewer systems have to be moved, and bridge boxes are being constructed instead of culverts.

Urban road project created several very happy land owners.

The urban road project created several very happy land owners. Elite has been filling in acres of land with earth that was shaved of the road. From what were some inaccessible and of little value lots, there are now very valuable commercial lots. “They get the benefit of the dirt and we get the benefit of decreasing the cost of hauling the materials to specific spots,” said Ing. Castillo. Several islanders have become millionaires

With rains and heavy construction taking place at the new municipal dump, there were changes as far as the road paving schedule. “We had an emerging situation from Kix to mud hole with the deterioration of the road,” said Ing Castillo. The Roatan municipality has begun the dirt work on the 2.3 kilometers between Kix and the dump. That is the last portion of the PO-35 that has not been bid out for paving.

Some other road projects were also delayed. One of them is the paving of the 4.3 kilometer road from Palmetto to Crawfish rock that is now planned for construction in early 2025. 750 meters from Próspera to Colonia Smith diversion has been paved and 620 meter in total from the Mall up towards Crawfish Rock.

The Orange Vests Movement at Roatan Airport

The volunteer program was an idea thought up by Janine Goben, Milesse Kennedy and Dainie Etches, retired island residents who saw a need to smooth the way passengers were being treated at the Manual Galvez International Airport. In 2014, Honduran immigration introduced biometric scanners, but airport officials were untrained and computers were jam-packed with glitches. Many passengers spent hours waiting in immigration lines and became frustrated and angry. “It took three hours for one flight to clear,” remembers Kennedy.

The volunteers took the bulk of the frustration from international passengers as the Honduran immigration staff learned how to efficiently use the biometric scanners and currently volunteers are present at almost every international flight landing and departing the island.

Six volunteers (…) are present at every international flight

Karen Ludlow, Executive director of the Bay Islands Tourism Bureau that runs the program, has been volunteering at the airport for four years and running the volunteer program as from August 2017. The staff of 16 volunteers, mostly retired expats and a couple Hondurans, are present at every international flight.

One of these volunteers is Paul Buillon, 75, a 31-year US Navy veteran, who has been coming to Roatan airport every Saturday for over a year. He helps with lost luggage, orientating people, keeping the immigration line moving and keeping travelers in an upbeat mood. The most commonly asked question is “How to work the ATM machine,” says Buillon.

“We are here to help them navigate, keep them happy,” says Kathy Shupe, 63, a retired American Airlines employee from Tucson, Arizona. But the volunteers do sometimes more then just that. Just in February a traveler collapsed and Buillon called airport emergency services that have an office at the airport. “I just like to volunteer. I want Roatan to have a good name,” said Shupe who also volunteers her time at the local dog shelter and Marine Park.

The volunteer’s effort is appreciated by airport managers. “The cooperation of (…) volunteers has been indispensable in the assistance provided to English speaking passengers. (…) the passengers have had a more pleasant experience,” wrote Juan Interiano, the Roatan airport manager, about the volunteers help. The volunteers have placed a smiling face on the Roatan airport experience.