By Eliane Portillo

Link the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in Sinaloa will generate more business from Mexico to United States because it will save up to 8 hours of travel.

By linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in Northern Mexico, the cable-stayed bridge Baluarte will help to promote trade with the United States. In addition, regional tourism will increase as well as the strategic importance of the country in the global economy. The port of Mazatlan will increase productivity and will be one of the most important of the country. With an investment of $2.180 billion pesos, this work will consist of 1,124 meters in length supported by 152 steel straps, a center clear of 520 meters and four lanes of traffic suspended at a height of over 400 meters. It will have capacity for 2,000 vehicles per day and will offer a direct connection to the northeast of the country with the Pacific coast.

Through 61 tunnels and 115 structures (between bridges and viaducts), will reduce distance and time of route of about six hours in cargo transport which will boost the commercial and tourist development of the area.

The new highway will reduce 75 kilometers of path, as well as travel times from up to 12 to four hours for freighters, and from six to less than three hours for cars.

According to information issued by the Secretarial of Communications and Transports (SCT), the Durango-Mazatlan highway is part of a much more ambitious project: the road axis linking the ports of Mazatlan and Matamoros. Thus, to facilitate cross communication between the Pacific and the Atlantic, will increase access to hundreds of locations in nine Mexican States: Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Jalisco, Nayarit, Nuevo Leon, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas.

The Baluarte Bridge, which according to the SCT will be completed this year, represents the possibility of approaching business to inputs and their markets, as well as to promote economic development.

Last January 5th, President Felipe Calderon led the setting to bind the last section of this project, and at the same time received recognition by the Guinness record to appoint the bridge as highest stronghold of its kind worldwide.