The road begins in the casco central (downtown, city center) districts of San José canton, just where Route 1 ends, at the east side of the La Sabana Metropolitan Park.

Before the development of the road, crossing the mortally and aptly named Cerro de la Muerte took four to five days on foot, and many people died due to the low temperatures and lack of sanitary infrastructure.

On August 5, 1908 the scholar Pedro Pérez Zeledón proposed the creation of three rest stops, named “División”, “La Muerte” and “Ojo de Agua”, which were built between 1910 and 1912, located at around ten to two hours on foot of each other.

What is now known as Route 243 between San Isidro de El General and Dominical in the pacific coast was also created at the time as an access road for the construction materials.

[2] President Teodoro Picado Michalski joined the US Army survey team in the 1940s to visit Cerro de la Muerte while the road designs were taking place.