On 27 January 2010 President Óscar Arias opened the Autopista del Sol between San José and Caldera. This 77-kilometre-long motorway has been commissioned five months ahead of schedule and has required an investment of 360 million dollars.

The Autopista del Sol, which forms part of an ambitious plan of concessions promoted by the Costa Rican government, will be managed for the next 23 years by a consortium partnering Globalvía Infraestructuras with Sacyr Concesiones in a toll arrangement.

This infrastructure makes for a considerable improvement on the system of roads that includes the Costanera Sur, the Interamericana Sur and the San José to San Ramón motorway, the second of the projects that the Costa Rican government will be managing through a concession, in which FCC is also taking part through Globalvía.

The new motorway shaves 45 minutes off the travel time from San José to Caldera, which used to take two hours. The motorway has three sections:

• Section I, 14 kilometres long, between San José and Ciudad Colón, whose work consisted in the rehabilitation and improvement of the existing four-lane road.

• Section II, 40 kilometres of new-built divided highway between Ciudad Colón and Orotina.

• Section III: 23.8 kilometres long, involving the reconstruction of the pavement between the cities of Orotina and Caldera.