Anyone remember Puerto Rico's Tourist Routes (Parrot, Paso Fino Horse, Coqui, Flamboyant Tree, and Panoramic Route)? (high school, college)

[Pink Jazz]

I wonder, how many of you remember Puerto Rico's Tourist Routes - the Parrot, Paso Fino Horse, Coqui, Flamboyant Tree, and Panoramic Route? They have been gone since the early 2000s, although there is still some leftover signage in San Juan (the part where the Parrot, Paso Fino Horse, and Flamboyant Tree Routes were concurrent).

I wonder, what was the reason for their elimination?

[gemstone1]

Don't recall the routes, but regarding the Flamboyant Tree, I have successfully started some trees from seed that I brought home. As they grow, they travel with us in pots...can't wait to see them planted in our Yuma yard, the only thing missing will be the humidity !

[Pink Jazz]

Here are some descriptions of each route:

Parrot Route
Started in Mayaguez, headed north then east via PR-2 to Hatillo, then via PR-22 to San Juan, ending concurrently with the Paso Fino Horse and Flamboyant Tree Routes near the airport on PR-26.

Paso Fino Horse Route
Started in Mayaguez, headed south and east via PR-2 to Ponce, headed east and north via PR-52 and PR-18 to San Juan, eventually becoming concurrent with the Flamboyant Tree Route and later the Parrot Route, all three routes ending near the airport on PR-26.

Flamboyant Tree Route
Started in San Juan near the airport, concurrently with the Parrot and Paso Fino Horse Routes on PR-26, then heading south via PR-18/PR-52, then headed east (can't remember the route number) to Humacao.

Coqui Route
Started in San Juan at the terminus of the Parrot, Paso Fino Horse, and Flamboyant Tree Routes near the airport on PR-26, headed east via PR-26, then continued east and south via PR-3 to Ceiba, and finally via PR-53 south to Humacao.

Panoramic Route
Ran throug the center of the island via various routes from Mayaguez to Maunabo.

[Sunscape]

It's nice to know about those routes. I had never heard about them!!

[Pink Jazz]

Originally Posted by Annie of Oldsmar

It's nice to know about those routes. I had never heard about them!!

Of course, other than the Panoramic Route, they don't exist anymore, although there is still leftover signage in San Juan where the Parrot, Paso Fino Horse, and Flamboyant Tree routes were concurrent.

[Civitatem_Habitantis]

Originally Posted by Andros 1337

I wonder, what was the reason for their elimination?

My guess is that a new administration didn't like the previous administation's initiatives!

[Civitatem_Habitantis]

Originally Posted by gemstone1

Don't recall the routes, but regarding the Flamboyant Tree, I have successfully started some trees from seed that I brought home. As they grow, they travel with us in pots...can't wait to see them planted in our Yuma yard, the only thing missing will be the humidity !

How is that tree doing?

[gemstone1]

"How is that tree doing?" Wish I knew, we sold the Yuma property in '14.

[hindsight2020]

Originally Posted by Pink Jazz

I wonder, what was the reason for their elimination?

From where I sit, because it was an infantile idea meant to placate tourists, that never took on with the locals. But, what was more concurrent was the gradual expansion of accurate online mapping services during the expansion of retail broadband internet at the turn of the century. The island had suffered from bad road signage for decades; the cartoons were a haphazard way of simplifying it and making it easier for tourists, but it never caught on for the local population.

I was still living in the island through academic year breaks and summers during college during that time, and remember remarking among some high school classmates the ridiculous signs. The common concern at the time however, was how terrible the actual physical signage of roads was at the time, compared to the much more useful and organized signage of the lower 48. Again, with the explosion in popularity of google maps type services, the problem became self-limited, and the long-existing numbering of roads in PR could finally be used in earnest.

The shift became (for me at least) evident around the late 00s (2008 and beyond, when google maps became available for mobile).

[Pink Jazz]

I also know in the late 1990s/early 2000s PR switched to a tiered system for its roads - Primary (blue and white shield), Urban Primary (white and black shield), Secondary (blue and yellow pentagon), and Tertiary (white and black circle).