Mazatlan-to-Matamoros Corridor Nearing Completion

Started by Grzrd, February 17, 2013, 07:57:59 PM

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Grzrd

This article reports that the interoceanic Mazatlan-to-Matamoros Corridor should be finished in July or August:

Quote
An ambitious, nearly complete superhighway connecting Mexico's Pacific coast to the Gulf coast has the potential to benefit the Rio Grande Valley significantly – but only with aggressive marketing of the area to companies that move products across the border.
That's according to Steve Perez, president of Cargo USA Logistics. He said the so-called Mazatlan-to-Matamoros corridor, part of the comprehensive National Infrastructure Plan put forward by former Mexican president Felipe Calderón in 2007 to facilitate trade and tourism and boost the country's economy, should be finished this July or August ....
The project has spurred construction of an overhead highway in Matamoros that will connect Veterans Bridge at Los Tomates with the Mazatlan-to-Matamoros superhighway, giving commercial traffic a route that avoids Matamoros traffic jams. The Matamoros highway should be finished in about four months, Perez said ....
Perez said U.S. importers need to be made aware that Brownsville-Matamoros exists. Commercial traffic at the county's trade bridges could conceivably grow by 50 percent, he added.




Quote
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the corridor project is the Baluarte River Bridge in the Sierra Madre Occidental Mountains in western Mexico. Spanning 1,706 feet and standing 1,321 feet high, it's the tallest bridge in North America and the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world. The corridor features several other tall bridges in addition to Baluarte, as well as more than 60 tunnels.

This prior thread contains discussion about the Baluarte bridge, as well as the following post that serves as an eerie precursor of Alanlandian observation:

Quote from: Steve on January 31, 2012, 08:02:25 PM
amused that the bridge both increases and decreases the drug trade simultaneously.


kphoger

Hmmm.  I hadn't realized they were constructing a bypass of Villa Unión.  Without it, the "super" part of the highway couldn't really be said to reach Mazatlán.  Construction apparently started in September 2011 ((  :-o  )).
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Chris

I believe Durango - Mazatlán is just a super-two freeway. Only the Puente de Baluarte has 4 lanes as far as I'm aware. This type of toll road is not uncommon in Mexico.

kphoger

Quote from: Chris on February 19, 2013, 11:32:02 AM
I believe Durango - Mazatlán is just a super-two freeway. Only the Puente de Baluarte has 4 lanes as far as I'm aware. This type of toll road is not uncommon in Mexico.

Correct.  But that type of highway is called a "supercarretera" in Mexican Spanish, so the term "superhighway" seems an appropriate label.


It appears you are right about the Puente Baluarte being four lanes.


Forgive me, Jbte, for stealing your photos.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

agentsteel53

is that a Mexico "super-3" with passing only allowed in one direction?  Is that how that works?  only vehicles going up the hill can use the middle to pass?
live from sunny San Diego.

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kphoger

#5
Quote from: agentsteel53 on February 19, 2013, 12:10:55 PM
is that a Mexico "super-3" with passing only allowed in one direction?  Is that how that works?  only vehicles going up the hill can use the middle to pass?

OK, the laws get a little contradictory as they apply to A2 highways.  Technically, it is illegal to drive on the shoulder at all in México, just as it is in the United States.  The problem with that is, these highways are constructed with the intent that the shoulder will be used by slower vehicles to facilitate passing, and regulatory signs are even posted in some places advising traffic to keep as far right as possible ("Extreme su derecha" or something similar).  Furthermore, some A2 highways use a combination of dashed and solid shoulder lines and/or rumble strips to indicate when it's OK to ride the shoulder and when it's not.

So, in the specific example of the picture posted below above, it is technically illegal for traffic in either direction to ride the shoulder, but it is expected that traffic on both sides will do so, as evidenced by the dashed shoulder lines in both directions.  Theoretically, I suppose (and I have seen models and illustrations to support this notion), slower traffic might be expected to drive completely on the outside of the shoulder lines, thereby enabling faster vehicles to overtake without crossing the center yellow line–in which case, uphill traffic would still be able to go two abreast, even with a solid yellow line.  However, common practice is for slower traffic to only move over far enough to straddle the shoulder line, and for passing vehicles to ride the centerline–which would technically be illegal in the uphill direction of travel.

Are you confused enough yet?  Basically....

(1) Following all the technicalities of law, it is never permissible to use this highway three abreast.

(2) When traffic uses the highway as intended, though, it is still only technically legal to cross the center line if it is a dashed line.

(3) I've never heard of either one of those two laws being enforced.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

agentsteel53

thanks kphoger, that made almost as much sense as Mexico's "plan for placing route shields of particular numbers onto routes of unrelated numbers".  :sombrero:
live from sunny San Diego.

http://shields.aaroads.com

jake@aaroads.com

kphoger

An example of how the shoulder's dual use as breakdown lane and slow lane could occasionally cause issues, especially in a no passing zone:

http://goo.gl/maps/6OFOZ

Imagine driving in the direction of the camera shot, then seeing the two cars come around the bend towards you.  Except now imagine that the faster car has already started passing the slower one, and is therefore halfway into your lane.  You'd move over, right?  Oops, crap, broken-down vehicle there!  Crash...
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Interstatefan78

Great idea and this will have US-77 and US-83 meet at the Brownsville,TX  Matamoros Tamulipas veterans bridge to form a south texas to Sinaloa corridor along with a connection to the Tuscon, AZ-Nogales AZ/Sonora-Mazatlan corridor I-19/MX-15 corridor

kphoger

To get an idea of the crazy feats of engineering required to build this corridor, check out this video of just one portion.  Count the bridges and count the tunnels!

Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

kphoger

Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

Grzrd

Quote from: kphoger on June 06, 2013, 05:08:48 PM
To get an idea of the crazy feats of engineering required to build this corridor, check out this video of just one portion.  Count the bridges and count the tunnels!

kphoger - You are right! Amazing video. Thanks for sharing.

Grzrd

#12
Quote from: Grzrd on February 17, 2013, 07:57:59 PM
This article reports that the interoceanic Mazatlan-to-Matamoros Corridor should be finished in July or August

This article suggests that the road is more likely to open to traffic during the first quarter of 2014:

Quote
as construction wraps up on Mexican Federal Highway 40, a superhighway that will connect the Pacific Ocean in Mazatlan to the Gulf Coast in Matamoros, officials on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande are scrambling to ensure the area is prepared for an influx of commerce once the road is completed ....
After the highway is complete, travel time between Matamoros and the state of Sinaloa, a highly agricultural region often referred to as Mexico's breadbasket, is expected to be reduced from 20 hours to about 12, making Brownsville's port a quicker option for commerce than Phoenix.
Officials expect trucking companies to take notice of the decreased travel time and benefits of the port, and send an additional 1,000 trucks per day through the Rio Grande Valley ....
Officials in Mexico have said the highway could be complete as early as October, but those at the meeting suggested the road is more likely to open to traffic during the first quarter of 2014 ....
With a large percentage of the United States' produce coming from Mexico – it's estimated 60 percent of all the nation's lettuce comes from the region surrounding Mazatlan – the port is aiming to have a place for it to go in case companies divert their trucks to the Gulf Coast to reach the East Coast and beyond ....

jfs1988

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfs1988/9549524774/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jfs1988/9549526306/in/photostream/

Mexico Federal 49 (Toll) & Mexico Federal 40 (Toll) highway overlap sign. I encountered lots of road construction in the northern states during my road trip a few weeks ago.

nexus73

That video gave me tunnel vision...LOL!  What an impressive job of terrain taming.

Rick
US 101 is THE backbone of the Pacific coast from Bandon OR to Willits CA.  Industry, tourism and local traffic would be gone or severely crippled without it being in functioning condition in BOTH states.

Chris

The Mazatlán - Durango Autopista opened to traffic yesterday. It's a hugely spectacular route through the Sierra Madre Occidental.

What would this do for U.S. import and export? If they develop a deep water port near Mazatlán it will give Texas and points east about 600 miles less distance to the Pacific compared to the port of Los Angeles.

It doesn't seem that the new road was built with future twinning in mind.

Jbte




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