Puerto Rico Highway 159

Puerto Rico Highway 159 (PR-159) is the main road from Morovis to Toa Alta, passing through the municipality of Corozal in Puerto Rico.^[5] This road begins in downtown Morovis, from its intersection with PR-155 and PR-6623 to its junction with PR-165 in Toa Alta. It is about 21 km (13 mi) long.^[6]

Highway 159
Ruta 159
Route information
Maintained by Puerto Rico DTPW
Length	20.6 km[1] (12.8 mi)
Existed	1953[2][3][4]–present
Major junctions
West end	PR-155 / PR-6623 in Morovis barrio-pueblo
Major intersections	PR-137 in Monte Llano PR-619 in Monte Llano PR-160 in Unibón PR-647 / PR-5568 in Padilla–Cibuco PR-568 in Cibuco–Padilla PR-891 in Corozal barrio-pueblo–Pueblo PR-818 in Pueblo PR-821 in Corozal barrio-pueblo–Pueblo PR-142 in Pueblo PR-164 in Pueblo–Palmarejo
East end	PR-165 in Quebrada Arenas–Quebrada Cruz
Location
Country	United States
Territory	Puerto Rico
Municipalities	Morovis, Corozal, Toa Alta
Highway system
Roads in Puerto Rico List
← PR-158 → PR-160

Route description

This highway consists of one lane in each direction for most of its length between Morovis and Toa Alta. In Morovis, PR-159 travels from its intersection with PR-155 and PR-6623 in downtown to the Corozal municipal limit, crossing through Monte Llano and Unibón barrios.^[7] In Corozal, the road serves as the main access to some neighborhoods,^[8] including Padilla, Cibuco, Dos Bocas, Barrio Pueblo, downtown Corozal, Palmarejo and Abras.^[9] Through downtown Corozal, the route was replaced by PR-891, and PR-159 makes a bypass to evade the municipal center. In Toa Alta, PR-159 crosses though Quebrada Arenas barrio until its ending at PR-165 on the Quebrada Arenas–Quebrada Cruz line.^[10]

• 
  Signs for Puerto Rico Highway 159 east and west in Morovis
• 
  Signs for PR-159 and PR-807 in Corozal barrio-pueblo
• 
  Mavilla Bridge in Corozal

Among the most important intersections are PR-137 (Expreso Ángel "Tony" Laureano), that heads to Vega Baja; PR-142 (Expreso de Corozal), that goes to Dorado; PR-155, the main highway between Vega Baja and Orocovis; PR-160, a route between Morovis and eastern Vega Baja; PR-164, the main highway to Naranjito, and PR-165, the main road between Toa Alta and Naranjito. On this highway lies the Plaza Aquarium shopping center, located in Toa Alta, and Mavilla Bridge, a centenary bridge which is located east of Corozal.^[11]

Maintenance

The issue of who is responsible for the road maintenance in Morovis was argued in April 2019. Representative Guillermo Miranda Rivera accused the mayor of Morovis, Carmen Maldonado González, of not doing road maintenance on Morovis' roads, while she blamed the central government for the condition of state roads in Morovis.^[12]

• 
  Puerto Rico Highway 159 east in Morovis
• 
  Bridge with Puerto Rico Highway 159 over Unibón River

Rivers crossed

Puerto Rico Highway 159 crosses the following rivers:

• Río Cibuco in Corozal^[13]
• Río Corozal in Corozal^[14]
• Río Mavilla in Corozal^[15]
• Río Unibón in Morovis^[16]

History

Puerto Rico Highway 159 is part of original segments of old Roads No. 10 and No. 20 that existed until 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.^[17] Road No. 10 was the highway that led from Dorado to Coamo through Toa Alta, Corozal and Orocovis,^[4][18][19] while Road No. 20 was a route from Naranjito to Ciales across Corozal and Morovis.^[20][3][2]

Major intersections

Municipality	Location	km[1]	mi	Destinations	Notes
Morovis	Morovis barrio-pueblo	0.0	0.0	PR-155 (Avenida Buena Vista) / PR-6623 (Calle Principal) – Morovis, Orocovis	Western terminus of PR-159; PR-155 northbound access via PR-6617
	Monte Llano	0.2– 0.3	0.12– 0.19	PR-6617 to PR-6619 – Morovis	PR-159 westbound detour
		0.5	0.31	PR-137 (Expreso Ángel "Tony" Laureano Martínez) – Morovis, Vega Baja
		2.0	1.2	PR-619 – Cuchillas
	Unibón	5.1– 5.2	3.2– 3.2	PR-6617 – Patrón
		5.2– 5.3	3.2– 3.3	PR-160 – Vega Baja
Corozal	Padilla–Cibuco line	7.5	4.7	PR-647 / PR-5568 – Vega Alta, Subestación Experimental Agrícola
		8.8– 8.9	5.5– 5.5	PR-817 – Cibuco	Unsigned
		9.9– 10.0	6.2– 6.2	PR-568 – Orocovis
	Corozal barrio-pueblo–Pueblo line	13.4	8.3	PR-891 (Calle Prolongación Bou) – Corozal	Western terminus of Avenida José Julián Grana Rodríguez
	Pueblo	13.6– 13.7	8.5– 8.5	PR-818 – Cibuco
	Corozal barrio-pueblo–Pueblo line	14.6	9.1	PR-821 – Corozal, Abras
	Pueblo	15.1– 15.2	9.4– 9.4	PR-142 north (Carretera José Antonio "Sonny" Rodríguez Ortiz) – Dorado
		15.5– 15.6	9.6– 9.7	PR-891 (Calle Toa Alta) – Corozal	Eastern terminus of Avenida José Julián Grana Rodríguez
	Pueblo–Palmarejo line	16.0	9.9	PR-164 south – Naranjito
	Palmarejo–Abras line	17.9– 18.0	11.1– 11.2	Puente de Mavilla over the Río Mavilla[21]
		19.0– 19.1	11.8– 11.9	PR-806 – Quebrada Arenas
Toa Alta	Quebrada Arenas–Quebrada Cruz line	20.6	12.8	PR-165 – Toa Alta, Naranjito	Eastern terminus of PR-159
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access       Route transition

See also

• Puerto Rico portal
• U.S. Roads portal