The Caracas–La Guaira highway is a highway that connects Caracas , the capital of Venezuela , to its principal port city of La Guaira , capital of the Vargas state . It was designed as an alternative to the old highway linking Caracas with La Guaira, the Carretera Vieja , a circuitous route with dangerous curves and steep drops. The end-to-end journey on the old highway had taken one hour while the new highway allowed the same trip to be made in 20 minutes.
28-478: It is the primary route between Caracas and the coast, and it links Caracas with its main international airport, Simón Bolívar International Airport . It was designed and built during the government of Colonel Marcos Pérez Jiménez and the military junta government that preceded it. Construction began in January 1950, and lasted until late 1953, with a cost of 3,500,000 dollars per km at the time, and 60,000,000 dollars on
56-692: A codeshare agreement with Conviasa , which took over the route seven months later. Conviasa ended its nonstop service to Damascus in August 2012. During the ongoing crisis in Bolivarian Venezuela , domestic airlines are laboring under tremendous difficulties because of hyperinflation and parts shortages. Many international airlines have left the country. International airlines that have left Venezuela include Aeroméxico , Aerolíneas Argentinas , Air Canada , Alitalia , Avianca , Delta Air Lines , Lufthansa , LATAM , and United Airlines , making travel to
84-417: A consulting engineering company in the city of New York . The tunnels have a ventilation system that automatically regulates the entry of fresh air in proportion to the concentration of carbon monoxide expelled by motor vehicles. A tunnel along the greater length of 1,780 meters, two galleries were built vertical sites about one-third the length of the underpass. These galleries are raised tunnel about 37 m to
112-532: A section of the parking area has been cleared to build an airport hotel. In the 1950s under the regime of Marcos Pérez Jiménez , road transport between the airport and the capital was improved by the inauguration of the Caracas-La Guaira highway . However, the La Guaira and Caracas Railway, dating from the nineteenth century, was closed. In March 2007, Iran Air introduced service to Tehran via Damascus. It had
140-635: A stop in a nearby country instead. The chronology of terminations is as follows: 7 April 2014 (1st) 28 February 2024 (2nd) 31 July 2024 From 1960 to 1997, it was the main hub for Viasa , Venezuela's former flag carrier until it went bankrupt in January 1997. It was also the hub for Avensa , Servivensa . Conviasa started operation in 2004, hoping to become in a big and leader airline, and flag carrier. However, due to financial crisis in Venezuela, several pilots quit and are leaving Conviasa in order to fly to other nations like Turkey which operates
168-440: A vital artery linking Caracas with Maiquetia Airport, whose daily turnover is about 200 domestic and international flights, and the port of La Guaira, where it enters about 50% of all of the country's imports. Also, the highway will impart momentum to the development of coastal property. With only 36 turns, it reduced the travel time by about 15 minutes. The curves have a minimum radius of 300 m (984 ft), compared with 15 for
196-403: Is always ready to guard crews clear the highway tunnels and of any accident or interruption that may occur. One of the viaducts along the route, known as Viaduct #1, was plagued by landslides from the 1980s onward. During the 1967 Caracas earthquake , it suffered severe deformations due to the displacement of the hill and the failure of Gramoven Tacagua. The bases of the supports shifted toward
224-845: Is an international airport located in Maiquetía , Vargas , Venezuela, about 21 kilometres (13 mi) west of downtown Caracas , the capital of the country. Simply called Maiquetía by the local population, it is the main international air passenger gateway to Venezuela. It handles flights to destinations in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. The airport opened in 1945 as the Maiquetía International Airport ( Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetía ). The site had been recommended as an appropriate location for an airport by Charles Lindbergh on behalf of Pan Am . The USA subsidised
252-601: Is located on the mountains of the coast 17 km south of La Guaira and the Caribbean Sea, on whose level exceeds about 936 metres. Two thousand workers and over 200 bulldozers, tractors, and trucks worked to finish the work in time for the Tenth Inter-American Conference of Foreign Ministers, which was to take place in Caracas during the first quarter of 1954. Along with the many Venezuelan workers who worked in
280-479: Is the Morrison Knudsen Company Inc. of Boise, Idaho, United States. Each tunnel is actually a set of twin tubes separated by a natural wall of about 12 metres wide, with two lanes of traffic in one direction on each side. The first Boqueron tunnel measures 1,910 m (6,266 ft). The second Boqueron Tunnel measures 497 m (1,631 ft) The tunnels were designed by Ralph Smillie , head of
308-598: The United States Department of Transportation and Department of Homeland Security indefinitely suspended all flights between Venezuela and the United States , due to safety and security concerns. The suspension affects mainly Venezuelan airlines that flew to Miami : Avior Airlines , LASER Airlines , and Estelar Latinoamerica . Following the COVID-19 pandemic , the government announced on 3 February 2020 that
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#1732859542445336-473: The Atlantic Ocean. Between 1952 and 1962, two new wings were added to the passenger terminal, and the runway was expanded to 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). Lighting was installed on the runway and approach zones to allow night operations. In 1956 a new runway was built, and in 1962, it was expanded to 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) long by 60 metres (200 ft) wide. In the 1970s a new international terminal
364-506: The September 11, 2001 attacks, and now departure areas and arrival areas are completely split into the lower and upper levels of the airport. The Proyecto Maiquetía 2000 (Project Maiquetia 2000) was completed in 2007 which added new customs and immigration areas, a new cargo terminal, and a connecting passageway between the domestic and international terminal. As part of an expansion plan, new international gates are currently in construction, and
392-494: The airport in early December 2018. In March 2019, two Russian planes were deployed to the airport carrying 100 troops and 35 tonnes of matériel . The Russian planes left the country 3 months later on 26 June 2019, according to the Russian embassy announcement. American Airlines , the last U.S. airline serving Venezuela, left on 15 March 2019, after its pilots refused to fly to Venezuela, citing safety issues. Two months later,
420-538: The airport lacked air conditioning and utilities such as water and electricity. Flight crews are often sent to different cities to avoid crime that occurs in the area. The company charged with providing sanitation services ceased to exist, so cleaning no longer occurs as frequently at the facility. The Bolivarian National Guard , tasked with providing security, often extorts travelers by force. In support of President Nicolas Maduro's government, Russian Air Force aircraft, including Tupolev Tu-160 bombers, were deployed to
448-506: The centre of the span, causing the supports to crack and the span to buckle upward. Venezuelan governments made constant repairs to strengthen the supports and stabilize the span, but did not develop a long-term solution. The government closed the highway as a safety precaution on 5 January 2006. The sudden isolation of Caracas from the coast prompted political accusations by the opposition against Hugo Chávez 's government, and by Chávez supporters against previous governments' failure to deal with
476-525: The construction of the airport as part of the Airport Development Program. Luis Malaussena was the architect who designed the original passenger terminal. It was regularly visited by the Anglo-French supersonic airliner Concorde until the 1980s. Commencing in the late 1970s, Air France operated weekly Concorde service between Caracas and Paris via a stop at Santa Maria Airport located in
504-556: The country difficult. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the Bolivarian government has not paid US$ 3.8 billion to international airlines in a currency issue involving conversion of local currency to U.S. dollars. Airlines have left for other reasons, including crime against flight crews, stolen baggage, and problems with the quality of jet fuel and maintenance of runways. In 2016,
532-738: The country had imposed epidemiological surveillance, restrictions and diagnostic systems to detect possible COVID-19 cases at this airport and that Venezuela would receive a diagnostic kit for the virus strain from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). The following airlines operate regular scheduled passenger flights at Simón Bolívar International Airport: Since 2014, foreign and domestic carriers have reduced and/or terminated their presence due to political instability and their inability to recover US$ 3.8 billion in funds owed to airlines. For fear of safety, some carriers have avoided overnight flight crews in Caracas, choosing to make
560-458: The current road. The maximum degree of the new road is only 6%, and 3.5% in the tunnels, compared with 12% on the old road. Two tunnels, one of them over 1,910 m (6,266 ft) long, together with the three concrete bridges, trace the path of this four-lane highway linking the capital with the Caribbean. Caracas, with its topographical situation has contributed significantly to its development,
588-437: The equipment that will control the ventilation and traffic regulation. The tunnel will have more buildings at both ends, which are now installed automatic controls of the twin tunnels. A house, central control, was built near the side of the tunnel Greater Caracas , where electrical panels were installed specifically designed to regulate the ventilation lighting, traffic, and warning signs of both tunnels. In this building, there
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#1732859542445616-464: The old jetways in the international terminal were replaced with new glass-walled jetways. Following the increasing economic partnership between Venezuela and Turkey in October 2016, Turkish Airlines started offering direct flights from December 2016 connecting between Caracas to Istanbul (via Havana , Cuba ) in an effort to "link and expand contacts" between the two countries. By 2018, terminals in
644-482: The present. At the time of its inauguration, the project was considered an engineering masterpiece, and one of the most visible examples of Venezuelan politics to reverse its oil wealth to the land. The construction of the highway began in January 1950 after six years of studies by the Ministry of Public Works in Venezuela during the military regime by colonel Marcos Pérez Jiménez (1952-1958). The highway serves as
672-653: The problem. A narrow and steep detour around the viaduct opened on February 28, and the viaduct span fell on March 19. Construction began in March 2006 on a replacement viaduct, which opened on 21 June 2007. The current Viaduct 1 has a length of 900 m (2,953 ft). Viaduct 2 has a length of 270 m (886 ft). Viaduct 3 has a length of 215 m (705 ft). Sim%C3%B3n Bol%C3%ADvar International Airport (Venezuela) Maiquetía "Simón Bolívar" International Airport ( IATA : CCS , ICAO : SVMI , Spanish: Aeropuerto Internacional de Maiquetía "Simón Bolívar" )
700-412: The same type of aircraft. The headquarters of Conviasa is located on the airport grounds. The airport is shown in the 1981 movie Menudo: La Película , when a pair of Menudo 's friends board a flight during the film's final scenes. The airport is also shown in the 1975 French film Le Sauvage starring Catherine Deneuve and Yves Montand , as several soap-opera and movie key scenes were filmed at
728-403: The surface of the mountain, and are used to inject fresh air and expel combustion gases coming out of cars that travel. In addition to more efficient lighting that existed at the time, the tunnels have a system for regulating traffic in case of occurrence of any emergency, as well as a variety of apparatus for firefighting. At the north end of the tunnel will be built a smaller building to house
756-410: The three viaducts were a group of 300 men including immigrant Italians, Germans, Austrians, and Slavs. The highway was praised by the international media. The United States 's gag reel newscast, Movietone News , dedicated a report on the highway. The two highway tunnels were built at a cost of approximately $ 20,000,000 for the only other foreign company that participated in the project. The company
784-402: Was constructed to offer increased capacity with a domestic terminal opening in 1983. Viasa used to be the flag-carrier of Venezuela ceased operations on 23 January 1997. Since 2000, the airport has been undergoing major changes in order to meet international standards and to improve passenger traffic, security, immigration areas, and customs areas. Security measures have become top priority since
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