MEXICAN HIGHWAY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20929, 7 January 1938, Page 5

MEXICAN HIGHWAY

45 MILES WITHOUT A BEND What is the longest straight road in the world? It certainly does not exist in New Zealand. From the configuration of this country straight roads of any great length are uncommon. There is a good straight one in Canterbury and short ones in the Wairarapa and Hawke’s Bay, but these pale into insignificance before the 45-miles straight on the new motor highway from the Texas border <the Rio Grande) to Mexico City, completed only a few months ago.

This road is 776 miles in length, good all the way and bridges wherever they were needed. It opens up a new touring ground in Mexico for American motorists, and this winter will see them flooding over the border in search of the sunshine and new thrills which Mexico can give. Ultimately this road is expected to become a link in a far longer highway, uniting all the countries of the Western Hemisphere. It will stretch from Alaska across the United States down to San Diego, in Southern California, the length of Mexico and Central America to Panama; then on through Ecuador, Peru. Bolivia, Chile and over the Andes to the Argentine ,and the northward to Brazil. What a tour for the motorist of the future!

The process of driving a car from any city in the United States to Mexico City is little more complicated than driving to any place in Canada. 1 Motorists are no longer required to obtain bond for a car. Entry permit, obtained at the frontier, costs three Mexican pesos—about 3s 6d—and that is good for another 90 days. The Customs examination is usual perfunctory. A company, headed by Pascuel Oritz Rubio, a former President, is building a chain of tourist camps along the way under the name of Campos Mexocanos de Turismo. There are already camps at Banito, Tamazunchale (Americans call this place Thomas and Charlie), Jacala and Ixmiquilpan. Oil and petrol will be readily obtainable along the whole length of the road, but food and water are not always so readily obtainable, and it is said to be a wise precaution to take bottles of filtered water and dehydrated foods, in case fresh food and water are not procurable. One remarkable thing about the new highway is that throughout its 776

i Les there is no grade exceeding 6 per cent, feet in a 100 feet, though a good deal of it traverses mountain country.