The Thomas Vincent Ramos Highway, known as Route AR4 within the road numbering system, starts at mile 6 on the Hummingbird Highway and runs from Dangriga to Punta Gorda Town ending at the Mike Espat Bridge as described in the Public Roads Act Ch. 232 Revised Edition 2011^[1] and confirmed again in the S. I. No. 90 of 2023.^[2][3]

The highway provides important access to a number of Mayan ruins and natural areas. The ancient Mayan sites of Nim Li Punit and Lubaantun are each situated a few miles west of the highway in southern Belize. The Cockscomb Basin Wildlife Sanctuary is several miles west of the highway in south-central Belize.^[4]

History

The Toledo Road from Stann Creek Town to the Settlement 89 was opened in March 1961.^[5]

At some point in time the Toledo Road was merged with the eastern section of the Punta Gorda-San Antonio Road to form the Southern Highway.

Before the road was paved, flooding would often render the road impassable for 2-3 weeks at a time.^[6]

The detailed engineering designs were prepared by an international firm hired by the Government through international competitive bidding in October 1994. Financing for the engineering design was provided by ICDF, KFAED and the Government. The final report was presented in July 1995.

The project consisted of 4 phases.

• 1: Punta Gorda to Rice Mill, 30.1 km
• 2: Rice Mill to Bladen Bridge, 38.9 km
• 3: Bladen Bridge to Big Creek Port, 41.5 km
• 4: Mango Creek Junction to Stann Creek Valley Rd, 64.4 km

Construction of Section 1 started in February 1996 with Kuwait/OPEC funding, it advanced on schedule and was completed by November 23, 1998.^[8] Because of low traffic count and sparse population the upgrading of Section 2 was not feasible in 1998. The Project for the ODA/UK financed Section 3 was scheduled for review late in 1997 and construction activities were supposed to begin early in 1998. Sections 4 and 5 (IDB and ICDF) were scheduled to commence late in 1998 and were completed by September 2002.

Under this project a further 176 km of feeder roads were rehabilitated and constructed.

Section 2 between Settlement 110 and Settlement 19 was finally completed in November 2010 after a $16 million contract with Cisco Construction was signed on December 4, 2007.^[9]

Project Area: (Mile 6 , Hummingbird Highway to Hopkins Junction)

This project commenced in September 2024 with a project completion date at the end of the first quarter 2025. The portion of the highway to be re-surfaced with hot mix asphalt concrete is from the intersection with Hummingbird Highway to the approach of Kendall Bridge on the outskirts of Kendal.

The road from Road 8 to Settlement 124 was known as the Forest Department Road A5 in 1963.^[10] And then from Settlement 124 to the Settlement 89 it was known as Forest Department Road A6.

By 2013 the entire route was known as Arterial Route 5 (AR5).^[11]

In 1961 the TV Ramos Highway was known as the Toledo Road. In the mid 1980s the highway was paved and I'm speculating that the highway was named the Southern Highway at this point.

But before being named the Southern Highway, the TV Ramos Highway was called various other names. From Stann Creek Town to the Dump was called Stann Creek-Punta Gorda Road or the Big Falls-Belize Road (1976).^[6] And the main road from Punta Gorda Town to Settlement 224 was called the Punta Gorda-San Antonio Road (1963^[12],1976^[6]).

On September 30, 2020 the Southern Highway was renamed to Thomas Vincent Ramos Highway. It was named after Thomas Vincent Ramos, the creator of Garifuna Settlement Day.^[13]