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AGS or Lagos de Marino to Laredo?


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I know the buses to Laredo take the Aguascalientes/Zacatecas route because it is shorter and cuts driving time.  Now that the bypass around SLP is completed, is it as fast to use that route to overnight in Saltillo?  Heading to San Antonio and Saltillo is halfway between Lakeside and San Antonio.  Will also be towing a 5x8 enclosed trailer.

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I have been both ways before and after toll roads. I've tried it through Aguas last summer and I still perfer the Lagos/Mateheula course. I will be happy to send you a turn by turn trip guide. If you are interested just send me your email address. This time of year it is easy to go to Laredo in one day just driving in the daylight, or there are easy stops in Saltillo and Monterrey.

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I also make 'that' trip several times a year... like just a few days ago. I prefer the Aguas route for these reasons:  shorter, less tolls and roads just as good or better. There are some two-lane roads that way but they are wide and very good. I think that the 'main' problem for some might be getting through Aguascaliente.... not that it is difficult, which it is not, but just the thought of having to 'go through' a city. Of the mentality of 'I've always gone the other way'. 

Having said that, maybe if doing it for the first time AND pulling a small trailer the Lagos way might be better. You WILL pay more tolls that way in general and particularly since you will have the trailer 'axles' to add cost.

WARNING:  As I have written here, if one needs to turn in a car permit or get their Passport stamped or for any other reason go to Immigration in Laredo, the road to the Bridge II Immigration building is BLOCKED/torn up with NO signage as to how to otherwise get to it. So if you weren't planning on crossing at Colombia anyway, this is another good reason to do so at this time.

P.S.   I agree about the timing driving in the spring/summer. I didn't leave Ajijic until 8:30 am, stopped several times and still got to Monterrey with plenty of sunshine left. 

 

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I have been both ways, and I still prefer the SLP route, more so with the New Bi-Pass.  The biggest factor for us was the long stretches of nothing (no business and no coches) on the Aguas route. Never wanted to break down out there. Whatever rings your bell.

 

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3 hours ago, bojackson said:

I know the buses to Laredo take the Aguascalientes/Zacatecas route because it is shorter and cuts driving time.  Now that the bypass around SLP is completed, is it as fast to use that route to overnight in Saltillo?  Heading to San Antonio and Saltillo is halfway between Lakeside and San Antonio.  Will also be towing a 5x8 enclosed trailer.

The new northern bypass around San Luis Potosi when using the Mx.80 libre isn´t completed and a long way from opening [ a year or more I suspect]. It eventually will have several  bridges over the ravens from near the top of the plateau right through vacant land to the otherside of SLP to the  Mx. 57 north, well past the city. The part completed and open is from Mx. 49, the highway to Zacatecas, to the Mx. 57 north. You stll need to go down the 2 lane winding highway into SLP and along the newly completed/redone with bridges and service roads "periférico" or "anillo norte" to Mx. 49 and turn left or north onto it [it is actually a traffic light as the bridge there is for the Mx. 49 going into SLP or leaving to Zacatecas] and go 1/2 to 3/4 of  a mile to get onto the new bypass and there turn right as the left turn is still blocked off, at least it was the last time I checked it out before Christmas.

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1 hour ago, RickS said:

 I think that the 'main' problem for some might be getting through Aguascaliente.... not that it is difficult, which it is not, but just the thought of having to 'go through' a city. Of the mentality of 'I've always gone the other way'. 

I made this video of driving around Aguascaliente for a friend last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j52AEIpZtdQ

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4 hours ago, AlanMexicali said:

The new northern bypass around San Luis Potosi when using the Mx.80 libre isn´t completed and a long way from opening [ a year or more I suspect]. It eventually will have several  bridges over the ravens from near the top of the plateau right through vacant land to the otherside of SLP to the  Mx. 57 north, well past the city. The part completed and open is from Mx. 49, the highway to Zacatecas, to the Mx. 57 north. You stll need to go down the 2 lane winding highway into SLP and along the newly completed/redone with bridges and service roads "periférico" or "anillo norte" to Mx. 49 and turn left or north onto it [it is actually a traffic light as the bridge there is for the Mx. 49 going into SLP or leaving to Zacatecas] and go 1/2 to 3/4 of  a mile to get onto the new bypass and there turn right as the left turn is still blocked off, at least it was the last time I checked it out before Christmas.

Are you certain about this?  Here it is being reported on an RV site, complete with the toll amount.  This was posted on RV Net on April 17.

Quote

The new Guadalajara Macro Libramiento is now open from the Chapala Highway to Mex 80 D going to Lagos De Moreno, very nice. The toll for coach was 55.00 pesos the car was 46.00 pesos.
The new westeren bypass for San Luis Potosi is also open now as well.It is much better then having to take the easteren bypass. The toll for coach was 200.00 pesos, the car was 104.00 peseos. very nice road. Then comes rough highway 57. 

 

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41 minutes ago, tomgates said:

If the signage is for Mexico going south, what is it going north? Monterrey?

No, Zacatecas. But in my opinion it is a bit tricky on the inner circle on the north side to get going out on 45 as they have tunneled under the place where one would turn north on 45. I know where one needs to 'come out of the tunnel', as I did last week, but it is not marked. In fact the signs (on the tunnel part) keep saying Zacatecas straight ahead.

 

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On ‎30‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 11:02 AM, AlanMexicali said:

The new northern bypass around San Luis Potosi when using the Mx.80 libre isn´t completed and a long way from opening [ a year or more I suspect]. It eventually will have several  bridges over the ravens from near the top of the plateau right through vacant land to the otherside of SLP to the  Mx. 57 north, well past the city. The part completed and open is from Mx. 49, the highway to Zacatecas, to the Mx. 57 north. You stll need to go down the 2 lane winding highway into SLP and along the newly completed/redone with bridges and service roads "periférico" or "anillo norte" to Mx. 49 and turn left or north onto it [it is actually a traffic light as the bridge there is for the Mx. 49 going into SLP or leaving to Zacatecas] and go 1/2 to 3/4 of  a mile to get onto the new bypass and there turn right as the left turn is still blocked off, at least it was the last time I checked it out before Christmas.

 

On ‎30‎/‎04‎/‎2017 at 3:27 PM, Mainecoons said:

Are you certain about this?  Here it is being reported on an RV site, complete with the toll amount.  This was posted on RV Net on April 17.

 

 Quote:

"The new Guadalajara Macro Libramiento is now open from the Chapala Highway to Mex 80 D going to Lagos De Moreno, very nice. The toll for coach was 55.00 pesos the car was 46.00 pesos.
The new westeren bypass for San Luis Potosi is also open now as well.It is much better then having to take the easteren bypass. The toll for coach was 200.00 pesos, the car was 104.00 peseos. very nice road. Then comes rough highway 57." 

I was under the impression from local TV and newspaper news in 2016 it was on hold because of Peñas 2016 budget cuts or at least on slow down.  That doesn´t seem to have been the case. The newest Google Maps 2017 does show it completed , just doing a little more asphalting there, right on the very top of the plateau with an exit on the Mx.80 libre completely eliminating the winding 2 lane highway 40+ klm drive down the plateau with pueblos and speed bumps all along the way we had to take into town.

This route even if you take the first exit/entrance off of it at the Mx.49 highway to/from Zacatecas will save me 40 minutes or more to/from Lagos de Moreno and onto Guadalajara etc.compared to taking the standard route from Villa de Arriaga on the Mx.80D to the Mx.57 south of SLP, about a 45 klm longer drive and the Mx.80D there is a curvey 2 lane highway and  save about 20 minutes if we go to Aguascaliente. The Mx.80 libre from Villa de Arriaga is a flat straight well maintained 2 lane highway with no pueblos and almost no state or Federal Pólice patrolling it and most people drive about 120 klm per hour + up there. I presume now with the new bypass open hundreds of trucks heading to/from Zacatecas etc. will now be using it.

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13 minutes ago, Mainecoons said:

Yeah, since most of them are overloaded it shouldn't take them long to wreck this road either. :(

 

Exactly. Asphalt doesn´t hold up well with heavy trucks using it constanly. I noticed recently on the Mexican highways crews replacing asphalt with cement when redoing the worn out sections of a highway.They now need to build a bypass around Lagos de Moreno which now is a long slow drive to get though and frankly a pain for everyone.

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I have always found that the route you know best is the safest and fastest.  I will say that the smaller town crossings like Piedras Negras or Ciudad Acuna are always less crowded (like sometimes nobody but us crossing in or out) and way more relaxed. Both are reached in one long day from here. Both go through Aguascalientes which has more than one loop around the center of town and is really the only "through city" traffic except for Monclavo which is an easy straight drive through town.  There is a newer cuota around Saltillo.  I'd look at Google Earth and if you have a GPS they show the coordinates for turns and the site will help you draw your map and you can print it out to take in the car.  Be safe however you go and keep an eye on the gas gauge.  Alan

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There is a rather crappy ring road around Lagos now.  You turn left just past the big Pemex on the left, on the outskirts of town.  It is in lousy condition and only two lanes and clogged with same overloaded hardly moving trucks.  But it still beats driving through town.  The trick is to get to it early enough or on a Sunday before a lot of trucks are moving.

I know of no new bypass being constructed.  The image dates on Google Earth for that area are December 2016 and there's no indication of any new road construction.

Simply paving the thing properly and widening it to four lanes would fix the problem for quite a while.  

 

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I've used the Aguascaliente route three times and was always sorry I did. The drive thru Aquas and the endless drive from Zacatecas to Saltillo ruins it for me. There are two new roads that have opened up which should make make the Matehuala route much safer and faster.

 just used the new interchange connecting the macrolibramiento to 80D. It's amazing and beautiful! Both going and coming. You just keep going straight in both directions and you're good to go. I thought it might be confusing but it's like they wanted to do us a big favor, and they did. No more worries in the dark when going north or when returning.

https://goo.gl/maps/7yNHSF55oUz

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