Mexico plans four new projects after inaugurating railway bridge in Colima

BnamericasPublished: Wednesday, May 27, 2026

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The federal administration inaugurated the Arco Sur railway bridge this Monday, one of the main projects in the plan to ease mobility bottlenecks in the metropolitan area of Colima and Villa de Álvarez.

The infrastructure required an investment of 630 million (mn) pesos (US$36mn) and was completed two months ahead of schedule, reported the secretary of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT), Jesús Esteva, during the presidential morning press conference.

The bridge will directly benefit more than 157,000 inhabitants and will eliminate the interruptions caused by the railway crossing on Colima’s third ring road. Before the project, the passage of trains generated lines of up to one kilometer and waiting times of between 40 and 60 minutes, a situation that was repeated at least five times a day, Esteva explained.

“The main benefit is for the population. The lines that formed were nearly one kilometer long and the waiting times reached up to an hour,” the official pointed out.

The structure has a length of 862m and consists of two bodies with three lanes each. The estimated average annual daily traffic reaches 30,837 vehicles, considering north-south and south-north flows.

The project also included the installation of 209 lights with solar panels, 2,800m² of sidewalks and more than 4,200m³ of paving stones in the lower part of the bridge. During its construction, 1,890 jobs were created.

SICT indicated that the bridge is part of an infrastructure network approximately 2km in total length, together with the Arco Norte “Celsa Virgen Pérez”, the El Chical Bridge and the spur toward El Chical, works intended to relieve critical metropolitan mobility bottlenecks in Colima and Coquimatlán. According to the agency, together they will allow savings of up to 60 minutes in travel times around the third ring road and the southern bypass.

Esteva pointed out that during 2025 four bridges were built in the state and that for this year four additional works are already planned in the Colima-Manzanillo corridor, one of which has already begun construction. However, the secretary did not provide details on the names, locations, or investment amounts of these new projects during the presentation.

The Arco Sur project was carried out between July 2025 and May 2026. The bridge also incorporates special structural elements, including 168 seismic isolators, 132 girders, and 104 foundation piles up to 13m deep.

(The original version of this content was written in Spanish)