Taking Libres From Reynosa and Laredo (Pictures)

[qtla9111]

The last couple of months I have had to take trips to either Laredo or McAllen. All times I took the libres, sometimes with the travel trailer. The libres on both routes are in excellent condition. I'm not recommending that anyone take them but for us it saves us about $100 roundtrip. Coming home this week, we saw many federales and state police (Fuerza Civil) patrolling the highway. We stopped at a couple of small towns for a pit stop, tacos, and to buy the paper. Everything is open, farmers are out plowing and the oil business couldn't be better (well, only if they would privatize it). Here are some pics we took. Keep in mind that you can now bring $300 per person in additional goods as part of the Christmas franquicia.

[navegator]

Thank's qtla9111, since we have full coverage and legal representation on both vehicles I never paid much attention to the coverage on the toll road's paper work.

navegator

[qtla9111]

I just picked a concession off the internet. This one is Red ViaCorta Autopistas de Occidente whose toll roads cover Jalisco, Leon and Aguascalientes.

If you are responsible for the accident

If you are responsible for the accident , this insurance coverage includes:
- Damage to the highway.
- Damage to other vehicles (including those who eventually are injured medical expenses of those occupants and pedestrians) .
Medical and funeral for occupant and driver of the vehicle - charges .

If you are not you responsible:

If you 're not responsible for the accident in which you see yourself involved, the insurance covers :

- Damage to your vehicle, the occupants of the unit and the driver as a result of landslides or mudslides , objects in the road ( only when you have lack of pavement maintenance of the highway) , holes, bumps, spills of substances which result in road risks and accidents with animals.
- Damage to roads.

What is not covered:

It is important to take into account that there are specific conditions under which insurance will not protect you . When you're responsible , it does not cover:

Medical and funeral expenses , if you drive drunk , drugs .
Medical and funeral the driver of the vehicle responsible for trucks and larger vehicles to 1.5 tons for claims arising from speeding - costs .
- crane or tow charges your vehicle.

Not covered

When you're not responsible , does not cover:

Materials - Damage occurs when the vehicle weight exceeding 1.5 tons and you find yourself driving while intoxicated or under the influence of drugs.
- Damage to your vehicle caused by vandalism.
- When you participate in races or speed with others.

[navegator]

The so called libres are the old roads that where there before the 1950's and then the highways where started in the United States and a few years latter they statred building in Mexico the toll roads in the same manner as in the States, four lanes with a median, today they have built a lot more, I remember driving to Acapulco frtom Mexico City on a "libre" and today they have a toll road that shaves several hours from the trip.

It is recomended to use the toll roads because there are more Angeles Verdes "Green Angels" that will assist a traveller with a brake down, the toll roads also have an insurance when you receive the receipt that you have paid, I do not know what it covers, maybe somenone can tell us.

navegator

[qtla9111]

Like I said, the information is my point of view, my pics of what I saw and what I have done on a weekly basis for the last three months. I'm not recommending anything, or endorsing Mexico's non-toll roads.

That said, I would be happy that they caught someone on the highway just before I passed by. Sounds like they are doing their jobs.

Bad people pass by us everyday in this world. Libres or autopistas, Nuevo Leon, Texas, or Chicago, Il., no one every knows who is standing next to you or driving by you. Keep your nose clean and chances are, you'll never be bothered. That seems to be my case.

[wandering_mike]

From my experience, the libre's are much like the "red roads" on US maps. Some are great, some are pretty sucky. Some have pleasant drives, some take you through parts of cities you really don't want to go. Do your due diligence. Chris's post was about the route from Reynosa to Monterrey. Take it as such. I plan on traveling the free road next month on that route. Mexico really isn't a third world country if you think about it and have experienced some really unfortunate countries.

[MM49]

I wouldn’t recommend traveling the libres in those areas. I was traveling the libres between Monterrey and Anahuac and found out that the federales arrested the leader of the Zetas one hour before I arrived in Anahuac. I noticed that the federales were very animated in Lampazos at the natural springs park. They looked at us an speed away into the side streets.
MM49

[PawPaw_n_Gram]

navegator wrote:
The LIBRES are marked with yust a number, the toll roads have the same number with a "D" at the end.

Reynosa to Monterrey 40 libre, 40D toll and Laredo to Monterry 85 libre and 85D toll road.

Thanks - I guess this vital Mexico 101 knowledge.

[navegator]

The Libres are sometimes a little narrow and some do not have a shoulder, so make shure that you are a good driver, on some roads the pavement ends at the side and there is maybe a couple of feet of loose gravella and then there is a steep drop off, some times after a few pave-overs there is a good inch to four inch drop off to the gravell, if your tires happen to fall off the pavement, it iis a chore to get back up on the paved portion, should you go any furtherb off you might roll the RV down.

Some of the libres are also some of the nicest panoramic views and some can be down right scary specially on some of the mountain passes, same as some of the roads in the States, yust go a little slower and enjoy the view, and when you approach a town or hamlet, SLOW down, if you see a sign that says ESCUELA "school" there are going to be TOPES, those nasty mounds of asfalt that run crosswise to the road.

Some of the topes are marked or painted others are not, so when you see a few houses take it easy.

The LIBRES are marked with yust a number, the toll roads have the same number with a "D" at the end.

Reynosa to Monterrey 40 libre, 40D toll and Laredo to Monterry 85 libre and 85D toll road.

Buen viaje caminante.

navegator

[qtla9111]

Stills from my little Sony camera.

[Wm_Elliot]

Those pictures.... Are they from a dash cam, from a video frame or a still?

[qtla9111]

reed cundiff wrote:
I would stick to cuotas in northern Mexico and libres south of Vera Cruz.
Reed Cundiff

Just curious why? I live in the north and use them regularly.

[reed_cundiff]

I would stick to cuotas in northern Mexico and libres south of Vera Cruz. The cuotas in Yucatan are really expensive and the libres are excellent. There are no cuotas to the archaeological sites - but the topes can be awe-inspiring across Yucatan on 186 and "amusing" on 307 just south of Tulum. Wrecked rig in March just west of Orizaba on 150D. "Mexico Mike" wrote us to never use that road after mid-morning since the catabatic winds from the coast will hit the cold air coming down from the glaciers on Pico Orizaba (18,500') and you wind up with almost 0 visibility fogs. This is a great 4-lane divided highway otherwise. The Pemex in Orizaba is a great over-night spot. The attendants have been extremely helpful and the truckers have been as friendly as one could hope for.

Reed Cundiff

[reed_cundiff]

I would stick to cuotas in northern Mexico and libres south of Vera Cruz. The cuotas in Yucatan are really expensive and the libres are excellent. There are no cuotas to the archaeological sites - but the topes can be awe-inspiring across Yucatan on 186 and "amusing" on 307 just south of Tulum

Reed Cundiff

[rocmoc]

briansue wrote:
We are posting some info about the Nogales to Guadalajara cuota route on our blog but not pictures of the road though we show maps and some basic information.

We do boondock at times but we also try to support RV parks by using them so they will not go out of business. Of course there are many places where no RV park is available or the RV park is so bad we cannot bring ourselves to use it. If you want to know a specific boondocking location we may be able to help.

You provided a great post in your new topic. Info I wish to know more about is the Libres in the same manner that QTLA provided with his opening post of this topic. I have driven the toll roads many times in Mexico. I am not always in a hurry and if I knew more about the Libres may chose them over the toll roads. In the States I try to avoid freeways as much as possible when time allows.

rocmoc n AZ/Mexico