If you’re driving the Interamericana Sur through Palmar Norte this week, check the clock before you leave. The bridge over the Térraba River, between Palmar Norte and Palmar Sur in Osa, has partial closures every day from Monday, November 9 through Saturday, November 14. Tonight it closes completely.
Both lanes close from 10 p.m. tonight until 5 a.m. Tuesday, according to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MOPT). If you reach the bridge during those hours, you’ll have to wait until morning to cross. Today’s partial closures run from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. before the full overnight shutdown. From Tuesday through Friday, partial closures come in two blocks each day, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. and again from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. On Saturday, partial closures run from 7 a.m. to noon.
Outside those hours, both lanes stay open as usual, MOPT said. This bridge is the gateway to everything south of Palmar Norte. That includes Palmar Sur and its airport, Sierpe, where boats leave for Drake Bay, the turnoff to Puerto Jiménez, Golfito, and the Paso Canoas border crossing into Panama. The Costanera Sur coastal highway joins the Interamericana Sur at Palmar Norte, so drivers coming down from Dominical and Uvita who are heading farther south cross it too.
If you have a flight out of Palmar Sur or a boat to catch in Sierpe, leave extra time during the daytime closure hours. If you’re driving to the Panama border tonight, plan to cross the bridge before 10 p.m. or after 5 a.m. MOPT hasn’t announced an alternate route, so your best option is to time your trip around the schedule.
MOPT says the work will raise the bridge’s clearance and let heavy trucks cross safely. Repairs began in late January, and a second phase is reinforcing the structure from underneath. The ministry reported the project was 70 percent complete in late October, up from 40 percent in March.
The rehabilitation costs more than $10 million and is funded through the government’s emergency infrastructure reconstruction program, known as Proeri. The bridge is one of the most important structures on the southern Interamericana. It opened on February 26, 1961, and MOPT’s historical records describe close to 161 metric tons (about 177 US tons) of reinforced steel in its frame and supports.
This week’s closures won’t be the last. MOPT said closures like these will continue into early 2027 and that it will announce new dates as the work moves forward. Check the schedule before any trip through the southern zone in the coming months.
