Thoughts About The Durango Mazatlan Toll Road?

Durango to Maz is any easy day.we did Saltilo to Maz in one reaonable day with a 37 foot Motorhome in October 3014. Not lots of places to pull over and no services that we could see , but an easy drive. Be aware of slow , engine-braking , trucks in the tunnels.
In a car it realy is less than 3 hours, a motorhome probably 4.

Wasn't any RV park in Durango when we were there. We boondocked half way up the backbone and then outside Durango.

Great drive.

Its worth it, not many places to pull over. I found a place to stay in Durango.

see http://forums.woodalls.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27835561/gotomsg/27859138.cfm#27859138

Drove this in March, (Maz to Durango) it is an experience! Beautiful views for a passenger, driver is busy. People had pulled over but not what i would call a "safe" pullover. Never driven the "free road", but the "new section" is pretty good, the rest of the road to Durango was under construction or fair to poor...many potholes. Maybe next year it will be better.
Stayed in Durango at Motel Aragon as Tequila posted. It was just Ok, better than a Pemex. Eventually better "overnighting" will happen..."money talks". There were small food stops along the way and shops at the toll stops we did not stop at.
I wish i could have seen more, but what i saw was very nice. After roads are repaired it should be better.
We encountered GPS failures before Durango, but eventually found our Durango stop.

When this route gets road improvements and safe overnighting improves, this will be a better route in my opinion.

We took the road to Durango at Christmas on our way to Mazatlan. Libre from Monterrey to Saltillo (very good condition and scenic), toll from Saltillo to Torreon and then switched to the libre. Spent the night on the libre side of the toll booth at Leon Guzman in an almost empty strip mall with a Pemex (stayed there coming and going with free wifi at the service station across the street).

From there on we took the libre until we got closer to the bridge because the toll road to Durango is now 12 years old and under a lot of maintenance. The bridge and tunnel system is a true engineering feat and I recommend it to anyone.

On the return trip we took the Espinazo del Diablo and found it to be in very very good condition and the sightseeing was awesome. We found nice pull outs for lunch in the woods. We will take it both ways next time.

In the state of Durango we stayed at a state park, El Tecuan for 50 pesos a night. They have cabin rentals, a ranger who lives at the gated entrance. He had us park on the basketball court as it was winter and very few people. Woke up to -9C.

Took the libre all the way back to Monterrey. We're pretty much finished with toll roads as we have found most libres to be in good condition. We passed through the city of Durango for gas.