The Louis Berger Group serves as Independent Engineer for a consortium of commercial and multilateral lenders financing a combination of existing road rehabilitation and new construction to create the Boulevard Turístico del Atlántico in the northeastern Dominican Republic. The BTA provides improved tourist access to the remote Samaná Peninsula and Samaná Bay, home to whale birthing grounds and 400-year-old ruins of Spanish galleons. With its serene beaches and verdant karst limestone escarpments, the peninsula is a desirable tourist destination; however, prior to completion of the BTA, access to the area’s tourist attractions required a difficult half-day journey from Santo Domingo. With the BTA’s recent completion, travel time from Santo Domingo to the Samaná Peninsula is now an easy two-hour drive that will both increase tourism and promote economic growth in the region.
LBG team members conducted monthly visits to inspect ongoing construction and met with members of the BTA management and engineering teams. LBG engineers provided assistance to BTA managers and engineers on technical issues in support of quality assurance and timely project completion.
LBG is scheduled to provide operations and maintenance oversight for the BTA for the next 28 years on behalf of the consortium of lenders.