Highway 503 marker Highway 503 marker

Highway 503

Ruta 503
Carretera David Medina Feliciano[1]
Map of Puerto Rico road PR-503 within the Municipality of Ponce in relation to the other major roads in the municipality
Route information
Maintained by Puerto Rico DTPW
Length17.0 km[2][3] (10.6 mi)
Southern segment
South endCalle Salsa in Sexto
Major intersections
North endPortugués Dam in Tibes
Northern segment
South end PR-10 in Tibes
Major intersections PR-505 in San Patricio
North end PR-143 in Consejo
Location
CountryUnited States
TerritoryPuerto Rico
MunicipalitiesPonce, Adjuntas, Utuado
Highway system
← PR-502→ PR-504

Puerto Rico Highway 503 (PR-503), also called Carretera Tibes (Road to Tibes),[4] is a tertiary[5] state[6] road that connects Barrio Consejo, in the southwestern part of the municipality of Utuado, to Barrio Tercero in the city of Ponce, and ending at Museo de la Historia de Ponce, one block east of the center of the city at Plaza Las Delicias.

Route description

The road's northern terminus is at its intersection with Puerto Rico Highway 143 in Utuado's barrio Consejo, about 1/4 mile north of Utuado's borderline with the municipality of Adjuntas. The road runs in a southerly fashion from its northern terminus at Barrio Consejo, Utuado, through barrio Portugués of the municipality of Adjuntas, and then enters the municipality of Ponce, running through barrios Guaraguao, San Patricio, and Tibes. Starting in 2008, the flow of this road through Barrio Tibes was interrupted by the construction of the Rio Portugués river dam. As a result, there is now a permanent 3-mile stretch of this road that no longer exists. The road picks up again at the southern end of the Rio Portugues river dam, continuing in its southerly run through the rest of barrio Tibes and then through barrios Portugués Rural, and Portugués Urbano of the municipality of Ponce, before reaching barrio Sexto (Cantera) in the city of Ponce. The road then follows the course of Calle Mayor Cantera street in Ponce until it comes to its southern terminus at Calle Mayor street's intersection with Calle Isabel, (Calle Isabel is signed as PR-1).

Portugués dam

PR-503 used to be a single stretch country road from Ponce to Utuado until the late 2000s when construction of the Portugués Dam changed that.[1] In the mid 2010s a segment of this roadway was obliterated by the construction of the Portugués River reservoir, which now sits between the northern section of the road and the southern segment, disrupting the continuity of the road, but providing two approaches to the Dam and access to it from both the north and the south.

Road renamed

On 12 July 2011, Governor Luis Fortuño signed Law #130-2011 (House Bill 2885) naming this road as the David Medina-Feliciano Highway in honor of the costumbrista painter from Ponce.[1]

History

Prior to its numerical designation, PR-503 was only known as Carretera Tibes.[7] The current numerical designation corresponds to the 1953 Puerto Rico highway renumbering, a process implemented by the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation and Public Works (Spanish: Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas) that increased the insular highway network to connect existing routes with different locations around Puerto Rico.

Major intersections

MunicipalityLocationkm[2][3]miDestinationsNotes
PonceSexto0.00.0PR-Calle Salsa – PonceSouthern terminus of PR-503
Portugués1.4–
1.7		0.87–
1.1		 PR-10 (Carretera Salvador "Chiry" Vassallo Ruiz) / PR-504 – Adjuntas, Juana Díaz, Machuelo ArribaPartial cloverleaf interchange
Tibes3.42.1 PR-10 (Carretera Salvador "Chiry" Vassallo Ruiz) – Ponce, Adjuntas
5.53.4[[Puerto Rico Highway Portugués Dam |PR-Portugués Dam]] – TibesNorthern terminus of southern segment; dead end road
Gap in route
0.00.0 PR-10 (Carretera Salvador "Chiry" Vassallo Ruiz) – Ponce, AdjuntasSouthern terminus of northern segment
San Patricio7.34.5
 PR-505 south (Carretera La Guardarraya) – Ponce
Adjuntas
 No major junctions
UtuadoConsejo11.57.1 PR-143 (Ruta Panorámica) – Adjuntas, BarranquitasNorthern terminus of PR-503
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 An ACT to designate PR Road 503, which extends from Ponce to Adjuntas as the David Medina-Feliciano Road. H.B. 2885. Oficina de Servicios Legislativos de Puerto Rico. Gobierno de Puerto Rico. Approved 12 July 2011. Published (English version) 30 September 2014. Accessed 8 April 2016.
  2. 1 2 Google (1 March 2020). "PR-503 south" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  3. 1 2 Google (1 March 2020). "PR-503 north" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  4. ↑ Acme Map for the Barrio Portugues area. ACME Mapper 2.1. ACME Labs. Accessed 3 February 2018.
  5. ↑ PRHTA Design Manual: Chapter 1, General Design Criteria. Departamento de Transportación y Obras Publicas de Puerto Rico. page 1-2. Accessed 9 May 2019.
  6. ↑ ¿Una avenida o zona de combate? Primera Hora. 19 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  7. ↑ "Ponce, Memoria Núm. 27" (PDF). Puerto Rico Planning Board (in Spanish). 1953. Retrieved 24 August 2023.
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