ACT proposes $432 million PR-5 extension between Bayamón and Toa Alta to relieve PR-167

On Thursday, September 25, 2026, Puerto Rico's Highway and Transportation Authority (ACT) published the public notice and environmental assessment that opens the comment process for extending PR-5 between Bayamón and Toa Alta, a new 5.07-kilometer stretch with a total estimated cost of 432 million dollars, funded almost entirely with federal HUD money, meant to break the chronic gridlock on PR-167, officially rated at level of service F, the worst possible category ¹².

The project is not new: ACT first proposed it in the early 2000s as a natural continuation of PR-5. It appeared in the 2017-2020 State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) with $2,076,369 earmarked just for the environmental study, and today it ranks among the projects considered highly relevant in the San Juan metro area's 2050 Multimodal Long Range Transportation Plan (MLRTP) ². PR-167 is, for now, the only north-south artery connecting Barranquitas, Comerío and Naranjito to Bayamón and the rest of the metro area, an urban road lined with traffic lights and driveways almost back to back, with no capacity left for two decades of accumulated traffic ³⁴.

The numbers

• Total estimated cost: $432,000,000, through the federal CDBG-DR grant under the "Economic Development Investment Portfolio for Growth" program (grant B-18-DP-72-002); that figure does not include another $75,000,000 estimated separately for land, nor design and engineering costs ².
• New alignment: 5.07 kilometers, from the PR-5/PR-199 (Avenida Las Cumbres) intersection in Bayamón to kilometer 14.9 of PR-167 in Toa Alta, with four divided lanes and full access control ¹².
• Requires six new bridges and the total acquisition of at least 16 commercial parcels, plus residential properties inside the right-of-way, under the federal Uniform Relocation Act (49 CFR Part 24) ².
• Will be built in two phases, PR-199 to PR-830 and PR-830 to PR-167, over roughly three years of construction once work begins ².
• The Puerto Rico Planning Board's job-estimation calculator projects about 10,368 total construction jobs ².
• The comment period runs 30 calendar days from September 25, closing around October 25, 2026 ¹.

What this means for you

If you live in Barranquitas, Comerío, Naranjito or western Bayamón and rely on PR-167 to get to work, school or the hospital, this project, if it moves forward, is the first real alternative in two decades to the single corridor that exists today. It also matters if you own a business or home in the Cerro Gordo, Minillas and Buena Vista barrios of Bayamón, or in the Ortiz barrio of Toa Alta, because that is exactly where ACT has already identified the need to buy land and relocate properties ². And if you are a contractor or looking for construction work, the combined injection of more than half a billion dollars (432 million in construction plus 75 million in land) represents thousands of potential jobs in the northern metro area over the next three to five years ².

How to do it / Checklist

1. Read the full public notice at act.dtop.pr.gov, under "ACT Informa," searching for project AC-000533 ¹.
2. Download the Spanish-language Environmental Assessment (16 documents and technical appendices) to see the exact alignment, the maps, and whether your property falls inside the proposed right-of-way ².
3. If you have questions or concerns, submit them before the 30-day window closes, around October 25, 2026, to [email protected] or by mail to: ACT, P.O. Box 42007, San Juan, PR 00940-2007, Attention: Luis E. Rodríguez Rosa, Environmental Coordinator ¹².
4. You can review the paper documents Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Centro Gubernamental Roberto Sánchez Vilella, South Tower, 15th floor, on Avenida De Diego in Santurce ¹.
5. If your property could be affected by the land acquisition, ask specifically about the process under the Uniform Relocation Assistance Act (49 CFR Part 24), which guarantees fair compensation and moving assistance ².
6. Keep a copy of any comment you submit, since ACT must formally respond to them before requesting final environmental clearance from HUD.

What comes next

Once the comment period closes in October, ACT has to consolidate the responses and request final environmental clearance, known as a "Release of Funds," from Puerto Rico's Housing Department (PRDOH), which administers HUD's CDBG-DR funds. Only after that clearance can final design, land acquisition, and eventually the first of the four construction units that will make up Phase 1 begin. With an estimated three-year construction cycle and no groundbreaking date announced yet, the PR-5 extension remains, for now, a project on paper, but one that finally has money and a defined route, something it lacked for the past two decades ¹².

Sources

1. Autoridad de Carreteras y Transportacion (ACT) — Public Notice: PR-5 State Highway Extension, Bayamón to Toa Alta (AC-000533), https://act.dtop.pr.gov/act-informa/000533
2. ACT / HUD — Environmental Assessment (EA-FONSI), PR-5 Extension from PR-199 in Bayamón to PR-167 in Toa Alta, https://docs.pr.gov/files/DTOP/ACT/2026-09-09PR-5Ext.HUDEASpanish/1.EnvironmentalAssessmentTemplate-enEspa%C3%B1ol-2026-09-09.pdf
3. Departamento de Transportacion y Obras Publicas (DTOP) — Official portal, https://www.dtop.pr.gov/
4. Wikipedia — Puerto Rico Highway 167, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico_Highway_167