Cancun, Q.R. — Officials have inaugurated operations of the long-awaited Nichupté Bridge in Cancun. On Saturday evening, Governor Mara Lezama inaugurated the bridge opening with President Claudia Sheinbaum.
The 11.2 kilometer-long bridge will significantly reduce travel times between the urban area and the hotel zone. The new travel option between the Cancun Hotel Zone and the mainland will also strengthen evacuation capabilities in the event of emergencies.
During the ceremony, President Sheinbaum emphasized that where there was once corruption, there is now honesty; where there was once inequality, there is now equality and where barriers were once built, bridges are now being built.
“Past governments built inequality, corruption, and hatred. This administration builds equality, love for the people, and love for the country,” she said during the Saturday evening event.
Immediately afterward, state officials cut the inaugural ribbon, officially opening the Nichupté Bridge to the public.
During the event, which was attended by the head of the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT), Jesús Antonio Esteva Medina, Governor Mara Lezama highlighted that the bridge, considered the second longest in Latin America, represents a structural change in the dynamics of mobility in Cancun by shortening distances and improving the quality of life of thousands of workers who travel every day to the hotel zone.
Governor Lezama thanked President Sheinbaum for her support in completing the historic project, “which belongs to everyone; it demonstrates that the people’s resources return to the people,” she said.
“Governing is about making decisions that will still make sense when we are no longer here to explain them. In a few years, this bridge will no longer be a novelty, but it will have already become indispensable,” she said.
Governor Lezama explained that the new bridge will allow locals to reclaim time by reducing journeys that for years have been a burden. The new infrastructure will also positively impact the tourism industry with better inner city connections.
“What we are inaugurating today has two dimensions: an immediate one, a city that moves better and a deeper one, a state that is being built with a long-term social vision.”
Lezama added that the bridge will facilitate faster evacuations in the event of storms or hurricanes by offering a new connection route to the hotel zone, an area considered highly vulnerable to hurricanes..
The governor said the bridge was designed under environmental criteria with a route of 11.2 kilometers that minimizes environmental impact on the Nichupté lagoon system, including actions such as mangrove protection, water reconnection and the use of the “top down” construction technique, a technique applied for the first time in Mexico.
She also acknowledged the participation of the private sector in the execution of the project, particularly the company Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (ICA), as well as the work of the laborers who participated in its construction.
“With deep respect, we recognize the women and men who made it possible. Their work is here, standing firm, supporting the present and future of thousands of families,” she said.
Use of the Nichupté Bridge is free and is part of a development model that seeks to reduce inequalities and consolidate Cancun as a more integrated, sustainable city.
