Coastal Highway
    One of the three largest reserves of coastal temperate rainforest in the world is in serious risk due to the construction of a highway, planned to be constructed along the southern coast of Chile. 
   The central administration of the government of Chile decided in 1994 to initiate this development project, with the goals of accessing isolated coastal communities without road access, offering an alternative route to the Route 5 (or the Panamerica South) and  facilitating access for the exploitation of forest and fishing projects.  This project is named the Coastal Highway, and its development has been overseen by the Minister of Public Works, (MOP), the overall objective being to unite Arica with Puerto Montt via the coast.
 
Some of the principal technical characteristics of the project include;
 *Speed limit of 70 km/hour
 *Minimum road width of 11 m
 *Cleared strip width of 100 m 
 *The oulined project is planned inside a strip of 1600 m maximum width, through the coastline

  The greatest threat with respect to the planned project is located in the 10th region (40 to 42 L.S.). Here, the project includes the construction of a highway between Mehuin and Bahía Mansa, 2 communities situated along the coast of the the 10th region. The highway will cross through 200 kilometers of practically undeveloped land, inhabitated by small communities of fishermen and families of the Huilliche indigenous group, and includes long strips of continuous coastal forest of low altitude mostly undisturbed by humans, areas which have practically disappeared from the rest of the country.

    The World Resource Institute has defined these forests as a “frontier forest,” while Ecology names them “Primary Forests”, both signifying a connected history with forests which existed in pre-colonized  Europe, and which have not been burned or logged.  Also, World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the World Bank have defined the zone of southern temperate rainforest, whose representation is best highlighted in the coastal range of this region, as one of the 25 globally important ecoregions  which act as biodiversity hotspots, whose conservation is essential due to their biological diversity and vulnerability.

   
As with many development projects the potential benefits of the project in the short term must be weighed with a long-term analysis of the medium and long-term environmental and social consequences, an analysis of which is required by the Environmental Foundation under Chilean legislature, and more specifically by means of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
   The Costal Highway Project in its 200 kilometers of th e10th región has not been subjected to a single EIA, except en an area of 6 km in the protected sector of the Contacto River.  The explication for this given by the MOP is that the project outline was begun in 1994, one year before the force of the Environmental Foundation Law took effect.
 
  In the limited sections completed, including the construction of a bridge spanning the Chaihuín River, a road connecting Corral and Chaihuín, a bridge over the Contaco River, ominous consequences have been observed por the communities and the environment due to the methods of construction.
 
 Already many offences have been confirmed in respect to environmental law in the execution of the first steps in the coastal highway, which have been carried out in the 10th region.  The cases include non-authorized clearing of forest, the filling of wetland areas in the construction of the Rio Contaco bridge in the community of San Juan de la Costa.  Fishermen from Chaihuín (community of Corral) have also protested and denounced the construction, citing the deterioration in their cultivation and harvest of mussels, a result of the deposition of sediments caused by the addition of sand and gravel fill for the foundations of the bridge at the Cahihuín River.