Hummingbird Highway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Hummingbird Highway as seen from atop the Blue Hole NP Observation tower
The Hummingbird Highway as seen from atop the Blue Hole NP Observation tower

The Hummingbird Highway is one of the four major highways in Belize. It connects the Western Highway outside of Belmopan in the Cayo District with the Southern Highway outside of Dangriga in the Stann Creek District. It partially follows (and sometimes uses the infrastructure) of the former Stann Creek Railway (see Rail transport in Belize).

A paving project was completed in 1994. All the citrus produced in Belize travels along this highway to the two major processing plants in Stann Creek district. There are numerous small villages along the highway. A new bridge was completed over the Sibun River in 2004, and a new bridge inaugurated in 2006 across Silver Creek, however there are still several one-lane dilapidated bridges over numerous creeks and streams. It must be noted that the government is replacing the old bridges as fast as they can but Belize is a small country with limited resources.