The Trans-Isthmus Highway

At La Ventosa Junction, you can drive across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec on a good, paved highway. This road connects the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico across land that never rises more than 700 feet above sea level. Much of the highway was built on the graded right-of-way of a railroad that connected Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf of Mexico with Salina Cruz on the Pacific. At Acayucan, you come to the junction with Mexico 180 on which you can either turn north to Mexico City via Veracruz or southeast to Coatzacoalcos, Villahermosa, and the Yacutan Peninsula.