Cancun, Q.R. — Authorities touring Cancun’s Nichupté Bridge say it is in its final stages. The SICT says it is in its load testing phase and should be operational in mid-April.
President Claudia Sheinbaum toured the bridge with and Governor Mara Lezama Friday. They were accompanied by Jesús Antonio Esteva Medina who heads the state’s SICT (Secretary of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation).
The group conducted a supervisory visit of the Nichupté Bridge,verifiying final progress. During the tour, Esteva Medina reported that the project is showing considerable progress and is in the load testing phase, a key process to guarantee structural safety.
He explained that these tests involve placing loads of up to 150 tons on different sections of the bridge to measure its behavior. Through topographic leveling and the use of accelerographs, both the deformation and the structure’s recovery capacity are evaluated.
“Of the four spans that have been tested, all have passed. A deformation of up to 4 centimeters was expected, but only 1 centimeter was recorded with full recovery which confirms that the structure is within the expected elastic range,” he explained.
He also indicated that testing will continue in the coming weeks, including the evaluation of the metal structure, with the goal of concluding this process by mid-April.
If current conditions persist, the bridge could be reopened to traffic toward the end of that month.
The project, considered the longest built over a body of water in Mexico, will have a total length of 11 kilometers, of which more than 9 kilometers cross the lagoon area of the Nichupté system.
He also explained that work will begin in April on the interchange with Kukulcán Boulevard, which will have two lanes in each direction and will be essential for the operation of the bridge.
That interchange is estimated to handle around 12,000 vehicles daily and is expected to be completed in December.
With the opening of the Nichupté bridge, travel time between Luis Donaldo Colosio Boulevard and the hotel zone will be significantly reduced, going from up to an hour and a half to approximately 10 minutes in the connection between Colosio Boulevard and Kukulcán Boulevard.
