By David Eidell (03/05)
Mex 200 is the West Coast highway that begins where Mex 15 leaves off. Headed south along the coast, you greet Mex 15 at Nogales, and follow it some eight hundred miles south to the city of Tepic, where the highway veers eastward to Mexico City. Therefore at Tepic, to continue southbound to (Puerto Vallarta, Barra de Navidad, Manzanillo, Acapulco, Puerto Escondido) you must turn on to Mex 200, a mostly two-lane road.
Now Mexico has several very good North/South routes spread across the width of the country. But until recently there existed only a of "good" routes that transited the formidable "Sierras" mountains. The first, is Mex 15 itself, which continues on east, passing through Guadalajara and on to Mexico City. The second more recently completed route connects the west coast port city of Manzanillo to Guadalajara. But south of Manzanillo barely halfway down Mexico's west coast, there has been a dearth of "acceptable" highways that would connect popular interior destinations to important coastal destinations.
For the last several years now, we Mexicophiles have been waiting for the completion of a super highway link between the popular interior destinations of Morelia and Patzcuaro Michoacan, and the coast highway Mex 200. The old highway Mex 37 required six hours by car and around nine tortuous hours by RV. You name it, no striping, a billion pot holes, steep up and downs, dozens of villages with scores of unmarked speed bumps...the recollecting of this bring back a sour stomach.
But Mex 37 is completed with the exception of around twenty miles. It saves transit times by more than half. No topes, The superhighway is a godsend but the dullards in the highway department forgot to put up signs! Even 2005 maps cannot decipher the correct route around the coastal city of Lazaro Cardenas. Few folks southbound on Mex 200 end up finding the "on ramp" to the new Mex 37-D highway, and even those of us on our way past Mex 37-D southward to such destinations of Zihuatanejo and Acapulco, MISS a vital section of toll road that skims more than a half hour transit time past Lazaro Cardenas.
I am always loathe to accuse but I shout with hearty assuredness "Nobody But An Idiot Would Choose To Not Use These Toll roads!" This is the strongest posssible recommendation in my personal writing repertoire!
SOUTHBOUND MEX 200 FROM MANZANILLO AND WISH TO GO TO MORELIA
Proceed all the way to the "Tee" intersection where you will observe a sign with an arrow pointing to the right to go to PLAYA AZUL and a left pointing arrow to MORELIA. Make a left, proceed about a mile and a half over a low hill, slow down for two speed bumps and then observe a circular fountain in the form of a glorietta in the middle of the road ahead. IGNORE (is this plain enough language?) the sign that encourages you to proceed straight ahead. INSTEAD TURN RIGHT at the fountain, and then count off TEN MILES on your odometer until you reach the very first intersection you've encountered in the last hundred miles with a traffic light. MAKE A LEFT AT THIS LIGHT. Straight ahead in a few miles is the first of several toll booths along the way to Patzcuaro and Morelia.
SOUTHBOUND ON MEXICO 200 TO ZIHUATANEJO (FOR INSTANCE)
Follow the instructions above exactly and precisely like you were headed to Morelia. Got it? Same tee intersection, same fountain, same turn, same ten miles, same first traffic light and same left turn there. But you, with your destination being Zihuatanejo, are going to have to face an additional temptation that would screw you up. Between that fountain and ten miles later that left turn at that first trafic light you are going to endure the agony of having to IGNORE a beautiful green highway traffic sign with arrow and inviting looking on ramp. Ignore it, I say! It's a trap! Keep going until you encounter that first traffic light. Then left.
NORTHBOUND ON 200 FROM ZIHUATANEJO
When you encounter the first huge green highway sign shouting MORELIA, slow down! Even if you aren't on your way to Morelia, but rather wish to continue north on 200 SLOW DOWN! You will first encounter the MORELIA CUOTA exit, and then SUDDENLY on the other side of the overpass you would see LAZARO CARDENAS CUOTA. Give this a little thought and it will occur to you which exit is correct for your route.
BRIEF EXPLANATION
The OLD intersection with the coastal road and the road to Morelia is at that fountain mentioned above in the tiny no traffic light burg called LA MIRA. The NEW preferred route where superhighway intersects superhighway is some THIRTY MILES SOUTH of that old intersection.