Friday, August 8, 2025

Oaxaca-Puerto Escondido highway opening date delayed again

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced during his Monday morning press briefing that several landslides had occurred on the long-anticipated Oaxaca-Puerto Escondido highway, making it impossible to inaugurate the project on Nov. 29, as planned.

According to the president, two slopes along the route collapsed due to rains reported over the weekend. 

Collapse site
The president blamed the collapse on natural conditions. (YouTube / Andrés Manuel López Obrador)

Repair work on the highway is estimated to last a couple of months before the site’s inauguration on a new date: January 2024. Prior to the accident, the entire route was one bridge away from becoming functional, the president explained.

“This is bad news, but we will still ensure that it is inaugurated in early January,” López Obrador added.

The project has faced numerous setbacks including technical issues and social conflicts, particularly since the initial contract was awarded in 2009, and then the original concessionaire transferred the project rights to another company in 2014. In 2016, one year past its original projected completion date, the halfway-completed project was suspended again and handed over to the National Infrastructure Fund (Fonadin).

In August last year, officials were still expecting the highway to open by the end of 2022

Puerto Escondido-Oaxaca highway collapse site
Collapse site as seen from drone footage shared at AMLO’s Monday morning press conference. (YouTube / Andrés Manuel López Obrador)

The new highway – which will replace existing Highway 131, a treacherous 102-kilometer mountain road – will allow travelers to get from Oaxaca city to Puerto Escondido in 2.5 hours instead of the current 6 hours it currently takes to reach the Pacific Coast beach destination. 

With reports from Infobae and Expansión

6 COMMENTS

Have something to say? Paid Subscribers get all access to make & read comments.

Not everything happens in Mexico City, you know

0
In a country so diverse, historic and beautiful, why is it only ever the capital that gets attention?
Flair airlines

Canadian budget carrier Flair to offer US $102 flights from CDMX to Vancouver

7
Flair is the first airline to offer 100-dollar direct connections between Canada and Mexico City, competing directly with Aeroméxico and Air Canada.
orca

Baja California Sur becomes first state to legalize swimming with orcas

2
The activity of swimming with orcas, which exploded in popularity prior to its regulation, will only be legal in La Ventana, a small fishing village near La Paz.
BETA Version - Powered by Perplexity