Making the Meso Americano Highway Safe

Plans are underway to improve the safety of the Meso Americano Highway, which provides a vital link between seven Central American countries.

The 4,200km long highway is a vital transport link between Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. Governments of the countries along the route, the Inter American Development Bank and iRAP have begun charting a plan that will ultimately see investments made in affordable road safety infrastructure that could prevent thousands of deaths and serious injuries each year.

The Meso Americano project is one of a number of iRAP projects in Latin America and the Caribbean, where some 80,000 people are killed in road crashes each year. It has been estimated that between 2000 and 2020 road deaths will increase by 48% unless concerted action is taken.

In the seven countries along the Meso American Highway, more than 20,000 people lose their lives in road crashes each year.

April 2010