SANTO DOMINGO.- Groundbreaking for the long awaited Coral highway to be built at a cost of US$272 million will be headed by president Leonel Fernandez at 11 a.m. Friday, next to the Punta Cana International Airport (east).The Public Works Ministry said the 70 kilometer long highway, to be concluded in around three years, will link Santo Domingo to major towns, airports and tourist destinations in the country’s east Region, where motorist can travel in less time, at a lower cost and with a lower risk of traffic accidents.The company Constructora Autopista del Coral, S.A. will build the route first designed in the late 1990s, which will by-pass Higüey on the south and reach the airport at a clover leaf in the Eastern Tourist Boulevard. It includes three newbridges across the Chavón, Duey and Santa Clara rivers and several overpasses at railroad crossings, La Romana Airport, and the San Rafael del Yuma and Bayahibe roads.