Mexican Federal Highway 24

Federal Highway 24 (Spanish: Carretera Federal 24, Fed. 24) is a free part of the federal highways corridors (Spanish: los corredores carreteros federales).[3] Fed. 24 is intended to cross the Sierra Madre Occidental from the area of Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, on the east, to the area of Culiacán, Sinaloa, on the west. A limited central section of about 40 to 50 km is not yet completed or graded. This section lies between the villages of Los Frailes, Durango, on the east, and Soyatita (also known as El Sabino), Sinaloa, on the west. Travel is possible through this area, where the road is not yet completed, on unimproved roads using high clearance two-wheel drive vehicles. The two unconnected segments that extend through Los Frailes and Soyatita are graded, but each segment is unpaved for about the last 75 km. The central gap in the highway is in the rugged mountains of the Sierra Madre Occidental. This uncompleted and unpaved portion of the road is not well signed, there are many intersections with other unimproved roads, and it is easy to get lost off the intended route of the highway. As noted later, getting lost may not be a safe proposition. Further, the unfinished segment on the west is at about 820 meters elevation at Soyatita. Just outside Los Frailes, the road coming from the east is at 2,750 meters elevation. The traveler crossing this gap will have to negotiate this dramatic change in elevation traveling a good deal of the way on unimproved dirt roads. Travel times in this central section can be quite slow.

Federal Highway 24
Carretera Federal 24
Route information
Maintained by Secretariat of Communications and Transportation
Length482.4 km[1][2] (299.7 mi)
Major junctions
East endNuevo Palomas, Chihuahua
West end Fed. 15 in Pericos, Sinaloa
Highway system
Mexican Federal Highways
List • Autopistas
← Fed. 23→ Fed. 25

This central portion of the highway passes directly through the region known as Mexico's Golden Triangle, notorious for drug cultivation, drug trafficking, and related violent drug incidents.[4][5][6][7][8]

Northern terminus to Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua

Fed24 starts in the north at an intersection with the Fed. 16D. This intersection is at a point on the Fed. 16D that is 66 km east of Ciudad Cuauhtémoc and 38 km southwest of Chihuahua City. Fed. 24 then extends in a southerly direction for 184 km to Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua. At Hidalgo del Parral Fed. 4 intersects with Fed. 45 which connects Parral with Jiménez to the east and Durango to the south.

Hidalgo del Parral to the junction at Las Yerbitas (Aserradero Yerbites), Chihuahua

From Hidalgo del Parral, the finished section of paved highway going west runs some 220 km in a southwesterly direction to a highway junction at Las Yerbitas (Aserradero Yerbites), passing through El Vergel.

Along this stretch of Fed. 24, at a point 46 km west of Hidalgo del Parral there is an intersection with CHI-23. From this intersection, CHI-23 runs north through Guachochi and Creel to eventually intersect Fed. 16, west of La Junta, Chihuahua.

Las Yerbitas (Aserradero Yerbites) to Los Frailes, Durango

From the junction at Las Yerbitas (Aserradero Yerbites), Fed. 24 continues in a southerly direction for about 75 kilometers past the village of Atascaderos (Buenavista de Atascaderos), Chihuahua, to Los Frailes, Durango, located on the border of Chihuahua and Durango. The highway is graded in all of this section, and is paved for only about 20 km after leaving the junction at Las Yerbitas.

From the Las Yerbitas junction, a paved highway runs west for 25 km to Guadalupe y Calvo.

Highway gap from the village of Los Frailes, Durango to the village of Soyatita, Sinaloa

From Hidalgo del Parral, Fed. 24 was intended to extend southwest to cross the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range to the coastal area of Culiacan in Sinaloa. However, about 75 km of central section of Fed. 24 is not yet completed.

The east end of the highway is graded beyond the village of Los Frailes, Durango (Lat. 25.640171°, Long. -106.906229°), but the last 75 km of this roadway is not paved. The west end of the highway is graded through the village of Soyatita, Sinaloa (Lat. 25.738929°, Long. -107.305406°), and the last 75 km of this stretch is also not paved.

Between Los Frailes on the east and Soyatita on the west there is a gap of about 75 km. There is a distance of about 40 to 50 km in this section that has not been improved. Travelers can drive between these two points on a commonly used dirt road, but this roadway is neither graded or paved. In addition there are many places where other unmarked roads intersect with the highway. It is easy to lose one's way and get lost. There are no reliable maps detailing the road between the two ends of the graded road of Fed. 24. For orientation of those Fed. 24 travelers passing through this gap, about midway in this uncompleted section is the village of Huixiopa, Sinaloa (Lat. 25.755591°, Long. -107.191204°).

The unfinished segment on the west is at about 820 meters elevation at Soyatita. Just outside Los Frailes, the road coming from the east is at 2,750 meters elevation. In crossing the last unfinished gap, the highway construction will have to complete an all-weather road that conveys vehicles over this 1,930 meter elevation change. Until then, the traveler crossing this gap will have to negotiate this very significant change in elevation on dirt roads.

As noted above, because of the maze of unsigned roads in the central section, the traveler can get lost. Both Soyatita and Los Frailes have between 300 to 400 inhabitants. There are not any known overnight accommodations. Being caught by night in this area would increase travel risks. Getting lost in this area may not be a safe proposition. The unfinished gap in Fed. 24 lies in the heart of the rugged Sierra Madre Occidental, and the road passes within 1 km of the point where the borders of Chihuahua, Durango and Sinaloa meet. The general area surrounding this three-way junction of state borders is known as the "Golden Triangle of Mexico", a dangerous area which is well known for drug growing, drug trafficking, and violent drug related incidents.[4][5][6][7]

Soyatita to southern terminus near Pericos, Sinaloa

The graded section of Fed. 24 in Sinaloa, the first 50 to 55 km of which is not yet paved, commences at the village of Soyatita and extends approximately 130 km in a southwesterly direction through Tameapa and Badiraguato to reach Fed. 15 in the vicinity of Pericos. This is the southern terminus of Fed. 24.

See also

References
  1. "Datos Viales de Chihuahua" (PDF) (in Spanish). Dirección General de Servicios Técnicos, Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes. 2011. p. 6,7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-16. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
  2. "Datos Viales de Sinaloa" (PDF) (in Spanish). Dirección General de Servicios Técnicos, Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes. 2011. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-05-14. Retrieved 2012-01-28.
  3. "Mapa Nacional de Comunicaciones y Transportes" (PDF). Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes de Mexico. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 26, 2009. Retrieved December 11, 2008.
  4. "Mexico Dispatch: A Town in the Heart of Narco Country, Pretending It Isn't". PBS Newshour. Retrieved 18 December 2012. "Geographically, Badiraguato sits on the western edge of Mexico's "Golden Triangle," a busy trafficking corridor with an imposing landscape, defined by a seemingly endless chain of mountains that joins the states of Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Durango. It is a region of few paved roads, but if you value your safety, you had better know where the ones that do exist are coming from and better yet, where they are going. Most locals advise foreigners against carrying a passport, saying they would be better off traveling with someone well known who can vouch for them and their intentions. In other words, this is no land for the faint of heart. You can walk for days without seeing another human being, then suddenly stumble into a field of poppies or marijuana, to be quickly followed by the rumbling of 4×4 vehicles. If that were to happen, you might not live to tell the story. Whatever is left of you might never be found."
  5. "Inside the Golden Triangle". In Sight Crime. 2012-08-31. Retrieved 18 December 2012."After some initial difficulty, Miguel Angel Vega, a writer for the Sinaloa-based paper, was able to gain access to the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains located in the heart of the Golden Triangle, Mexico's key drug producing region. The region, which spans three of Mexico's 32 states, is known as the epicenter of marijuana and poppy production in the country."
  6. Miroff, Nick; Booth, William (24 October 2011). "Mexico's drug war is giving growers a break". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 December 2012."In Mexico's prime dope-growing region, known as the Golden Triangle, local farmers say the best cash crops are still the illegal ones."
  7. "The geography of drugs-related deaths and violence in the state of Chihuahua". Geo-Mexico. Retrieved 18 December 2012."This south-western part of the state [of Chihuahua] forms part of the Western Sierra Madre physiographic region (see map linked to above), an area of rugged relief with limited highway connections where rivers have carved giant canyons (such as the Copper Canyon system) into the forested plateaus and mountains. The "culture of violence" in this region, sometimes called Mexico's "Golden Triangle", was analyzed by Carlos Mario Alvarado in "La [Sierra] Tarahumara, una tierra herida: análisis de la violencia en zonas productoras de estupefacientes en Chihuahua" (The Tarahumara Sierra, a wounded land: analysis of the violence in narcotic drug production zones in Chihuahua) published by the state government in 1966. Alvarado found that between 1988 and 1993, in the southernmost municipality of Guadalupe y Calvo and in neighboring drug-growing municipalities, murders had a bimodal distribution each year, with peaks in April–May–June (when poppies and marijuana are planted) and September–October–November (when they are harvested). The four-year drug-violence death-rate for those municipalities in the early 1990s was significantly higher than the four-year drug war deaths ration shown on the map for 2006-2010."
  8. Johnson, Tim. "Mexico's drug war leaves marijuana growers to thrive". McClatchy Newspapers, McClatchy DC. Missing or empty |url= (help)"The mountain slopes and valleys in the part of southern Chihuahua state that's hugged by Sinaloa and Durango states are sometimes called Mexico's Golden Triangle — after the opium-producing Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia — because of their productivity. Illicit crops include not only marijuana but also poppy, the flowering plant that provides the white gummy latex that's later processed into opium and heroin. It's a dangerous area. Even the poorest farmers tote weapons. A third of the region's population is thought to earn its living from the illicit drug industry."
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