Transportation in the Dominican Republic

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1 Railways
2 Highways
3 Pipelines
4 Ports and harbors
5 Airports
6 Buses
7 Public Cars
8 See also
9 External links

[edit] Railways

Rail operations are provided by one state owned operator and several private operators (mainly for sugar mills):

Central Romana Railroad was established in 1911 to ship sugar. The total length of the line is 757 km and uses standard gauge and 375 km using 1.435-m gauge.

The Dominican Republic Government Railway is a 142 km 0.762-m narrow gauge.

There are 240 km operated by other sugar companies in various gauges: 0.558-m, 0.762-m, 1.067-m gauges (1995)

[edit] Highways

Main article: Highways and Routes in the Dominican Republic

There are five main highways (DR-1, DR-2, DR-3, DR-4, DR-5) in good condition in the Dominican Republic connecting its biggest cities and touristic centers. Like any underdeveloped nation, the Dominican Republic suffers from lack of good paved routes to connect smaller towns and less populated areas. Some of them are in bad condition or are completely unpaved. Major town routes however are in good condition. Driving in DR is done on the right side, as it is in the United States.

total: 12,600 km
paved: 6,224 km
unpaved: 6,376 km (1996 est.)

[edit] Pipelines

There is 96 kilometres of crude oil pipelines and 8 kilometres for petroleum products in the DR.

[edit] Ports and harbors

Major ports and harbours in the Dominican Republic:

A local ferry service runs daily between the Samaná or Sabana del Mar ports.

Merchant marine:
total: 1 ship (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 1,587 GRT/1,165 DWT
ships by type: cargo 1 (1999 est.)

Entering the Ports

Boaters and sailors who with to dock in any of DR's ports must follow certain entry requirements:

Upon approaching the port, ships must display a quarantine flag, which has the letter 'Q' on it, and wait for admittance into the port.
The passengers of the vessel must pay a fee, get a tourist card, and show proper identification including a valid passport.
Military officials must sometimes grant the passegers clearance to come ashore.

[edit] Airports

See also: List of airports in the Dominican Republic

There are four major and 28 minor airports in the DR (1999):

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 10
over 3,047 m: 3
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 4
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 2 (1999 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 15
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 9 (1999 est.)

National airline

Dominicana de Aviacion used to be the country's national airline for a large period of time. Due to economic crisis, however, this title has been passed on to various other companies after Dominicana stopped flying. Currently, the national flag carrier is Caribair.

Flights
There are direct flights to and from Dominican Republic From United States, Cuba, Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the caribbean.

[edit] Buses

DR has bus system that is not very reliable, and most of these public transportation vehicles are not comfortable. The fare is generally inexpensive, and there are bus terminals and stops in most of the island's major cities.

[edit] Public Cars

DR also has a public car system, this system consists on having a defined number of cars assigned on main roads, these cars will transit a specific route daily, and citizens can pay a certain fee to enter the car at any part of the given route and transit it until it's end. This comprises one of the main ways of transportation inside the capital city of santo domingo, as well as other major cities as well. This system though is not very reliable either and lacks discipline, the high number of public cars that transit the roads, and the fact that they generally do not follow traffics laws, causes frequent transit problems among the different city roads.