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Cancún’s 11.2-kilometer Nichupté Bridge will open this month, officials say

MND Staff
By MND Staff
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Nichupté Bridge in Cancún
The bridge, planned since 2006, cuts across the lagoon to reduce the transit time to and from the hotel zone and the city of Cancún by 45 minutes. (Mara Lezama)

The Nichupté Vehicular Bridge, connecting the city of Cancún with its hotel zone, is nearing completion and should be open to traffic by the end of this month, federal transportation officials say.

The long-awaited bridge project was once assumed to have been abandoned, since it was proposed as part of Cancún’s 2030 Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development in 2006 but languished there until construction began 16 years later in 2022.

But now Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT) Minister Jesús Antonio Esteva Medina announced that the bridge is 90% complete and will begin operations in December, though no specific date was given.  

With a total length of 11.2 kilometers, including junctions and branches, the bridge will have three lanes of traffic in each direction on its main section, with one of them reversible as needed. There will be a bike lane and a pedestrian path.  

The structure is supported by piles driven into the seabed of the lagoon, designed to minimize the environmental impact on the protected natural area of ​​the Nichupté mangroves.

The SICT indicated that by crossing the Nichupté lagoon system, the bridge will reduce transit times by up to 45 minutes. It will also serve as an alternate evacuation route in case of hurricanes or other emergencies.

According to the bidding process, the original investment was just over 5 billion pesos (US $274 million). However, the Budget Transparency Observatory revealed that the amount currently stands at 10.8 billion pesos (US $590 million) and anticipates that, once associated expenses are included, the final amount will reach 11.1 billion (US $603 million).

Mara Lezama, governor of Quintana Roo, Cancun’s state, said that an average of 1.3 million residents, including workers in the tourism industry, and more than 20 million tourists each year will benefit from the  project. She emphasized that there will be no toll in either direction, and also pointed out that the bridge will provide spectacular views of the lagoon and mangroves.

With reports from Diario de Yucatán and Estamos Aquí

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