If you are going to the Caribbean coast today, check the road before you load the car. Route 32, the main highway between the Central Valley and Limón, closed again on Monday and was still shut as of early this morning. The Ministry of Public Works and Transport closed the road on Monday after material came down in the mountain area during heavy rain.
The ministry said the closure would stay in place as long as conditions could compromise driver safety, and that crews would assess the highway first thing Tuesday to decide whether traffic can move again. That decision has not been announced yet. Until it is, assume the road is closed.
The pattern this week has been open, close, repeat. The road reopened at 6 a.m. Monday after a weekend of closures, then shut again the same afternoon. Anyone planning around a single reopening announcement is likely to get caught out. The reason the mountain stretch keeps failing is the ground above it, not the road surface.
The slopes through Braulio Carrillo and around Cerro Zurquí have absorbed as much water as they can hold. Once soil reaches that point it stops soaking up rain and starts sliding. Clearing the debris does not fix that. It only clears what has already fallen, and more comes down with the next downpour.
The rain behind it was exceptional as the National Meteorological Institute recorded all-time daily records at nine weather stations for the 24 hours ending 7 a.m. Monday, eight of them on the Caribbean slope. Roxana de Pococí measured 263.4 millimeters (10.4 inches) in that period, the highest total in the set.
Your alternatives are limited and none of them is quick. The ministry has pointed drivers toward the Turrialba route, Vara Blanca for light vehicles only, and the Bajos de Chilamate-Vuelta de Kopper corridor. The catch is that these have been taking damage too. Route 10 through Turrialba has had its own landslide closures at Chitaría and at Santa Marta in Siquirres, and Route 4 has been blocked at Recta del Tigre in Sarapiquí with the río Sucio bridge shut over problems at its foundations.
Check each one on the day rather than assuming a detour is clear. Officials counted 24 damaged national routes over the weekend, with ten of those between Cartago and Turrialba, seven in the Zona Norte, six in the Atlantic region and one in the south.
More rain is expected. The National Meteorological Institute forecasts stronger Caribbean trade winds on Tuesday, with unstable and humid conditions continuing because the Intertropical Convergence Zone is sitting just south of Central America. Scattered rain is likely on the Caribbean slope from early morning, with downpours and possible thunderstorms over the mountains through the day. Twelve cantons remain under orange alert.
If you are visiting us and have booking in Tortuguero, Cahuita or Puerto Viejo in the next few days, call ahead. Boat transfers from Caño Blanco and La Pavona depend on road access that is not guaranteed right now.
The ministry publishes real-time road status to its Facebook page rather than its website, so that is where a reopening will appear first. Give yourself the option to turn back, and do not drive around barriers on a closed section. The closures on this road exist because the hillside above it is still moving.
