The I–16 in blue, with 3 major roads it junctions, the I–2 (including the Circuito Sur bypass) and I–22 seen in red, along with the A1 motorway seen in green
During the Bay of Pigs Invasion, American forces mostly had power and were mostly fighting on the road of Covadonga (4–I–16) and the road of Yaguaramas (4–I–22).[1] After the Americans left, the road looked like a “dystopian film”, with a bus seen on fire while heading into the town of Covadonga.[2]
In March 2022, the migration of the Red land crab in the region led to a dangerous hazard on the road and anyone driving on it, with the 30 kilometer stretch between the towns of Playa Larga and Playa Girón being the worst, said by an alert by the Municipal Assembly of People's Power of Ciénaga de Zapata.[3]
Route
The I–16 starts as 3–I–16 in Jagüey Grande, Matanzas Province, from the Circuito Sur (3–I–2) which goes south to an at-grade intersection with the Autopista Nacional (National Motorway), and keeps going south into the towns of Australia and Playa Larga, in which it reaches the southern coast of Cuba in the Bay of Pigs, where it then follows the coastline going southeast until the town of Playa Girón. In Playa Girón, the I–22 highway also begins, in the same route of the I–16, which both goes north to the town of Helechaland later San Blas, where they split at a y-junction, with the I–16 going north and I–22 going east. After this, the road goes into Cienfuegos Province, where it turns into the 4–I–16, and into the town of Covadonga (officially Antonio Sanchez), where it turns northeast to the town of Real Campiña, back at the Circuito Sur (now 4–I–2).[4][5][6]