The Ministry of Communications and Transportation (SICT) announced the completion of 100 percent of the construction work on the San Ignacio-Tayoltita Highway. The project provided more than 24,200 jobs in the area, with a total investment of 3.17 billion pesos, and this new highway connecting Sinaloa and Durango is ready for use.
Work began in 2019. The administration of President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, through the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT), headed by Jesús Antonio Esteva Medina, was responsible for its completion. This project is highly anticipated by the population, as it will save an average of 10 hours of travel time for people and consumer goods.
Highways in Durango
The highway begins in the municipal seat of San Ignacio, Sinaloa, and ends in the town of Tayoltita, the municipal seat of San Dimas, Durango, benefiting at least 20 localities in the region.
Meanwhile, the general director of the SICT Durango Center, Ángel Sergio Dévora Núñez, stated that the 515-meter El Duranguense tunnel and its two viaducts, the 214-meter San Ignacio and 124-meter San Isidro, were the main construction sections for Durango. The tunnel also includes the 171-meter El Sauz viaduct, which has two bridges: Auxiliary I, 40 meters long, and Auxiliary II, 30 meters long. The bridges also include the Los Ciruelos and El Bandonado bridges.
One of the main obstacles to overcome was increasing the width of the highway, which was initially a rural road. Construction work was a shared responsibility with Sinaloa, which was responsible for 84.6 km, while Durango worked on 11.6 km.
The head of the SICT Sinaloa Center, Lucas Manuel Aguilar Medina, acknowledged that 10 bridges with a length of 752 meters were built on the section he was responsible for; the shortest is La Caña, at 23 meters, and the longest is La Lechuguilla, at 142 meters.
In Durango, the project crossed the Sierra Madre Occidental, with steep slopes and ravines where the Piaxtla River and other rivers that flow into the Sinaloa coast flow, making traffic difficult, especially during the rainy season. The highway will benefit just over 11,000 residents of the region, impacting mobility and, in turn, boosting tourism, the economy, and trade with a safer and more efficient connection to regions such as Mazatlán and Culiacán.
Source: oem
