Mexico City’s new tunnel link being comnpleted

A new twin tube tunnel in Mexico City will help reduce the city’s chronic congestion problem, which is particularly acute at peak travel periods. The tunnel is located at Mixcoac in the south west of the city and should be ready by August 2017. The new twin bore tunnel link will reduce traffic jams on the city’s Circuito Interior urban highway, which handles up to 300,000 vehicles/hour at peak travel periods. Mexico City’s traffic jams are notorious and journey times can be infuriatingly long at times.
July 14, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The new twin tube tunnel is expected to help cut chronic congestion in Mexico City

A new twin tube tunnel in Mexico City will help reduce the city’s chronic congestion problem, which is particularly acute at peak travel periods. The tunnel is located at Mixcoac in the south west of the city and should be ready by August 2017. The new twin bore tunnel link will reduce traffic jams on the city’s Circuito Interior urban highway, which handles up to 300,000 vehicles/hour at peak travel periods. Mexico City’s traffic jams are notorious and journey times can be infuriatingly long at times.

But the project is now costing around US$6.64 billion, with the pricetag having been increased due to a series of design revisions caused by unexpected technical issues. The ground conditions in and around Mexico City are very poor and as the region suffers from serious earthquakes, these factors will have added considerably to the cost of the project. The installation of the safety systems including the ventilation, fire detection and CCTV equipment, for the 1.5km tunnel link will be completed shortly. And recent heavy rain has also shown that the tunnel’s new drainage system works effectively.

Road Structures

Related Content

  • Importance of road/tunnel drainage systems
    April 10, 2012
    A variety of systems are available for quickly and efficiently removing water from roads as Patrick Smith reports The presence of water in a highway layer reduces the bearing capacity of the road, and in doing so it also reduces the structure's lifetime. Indeed, the recent extremely cold winter in many parts of Europe has shown that in colder climates there is a risk of frost damage when water is present resulting in costly potholes, so drainage systems performing properly are important in road design.
    Read More
  • Importance of road/tunnel drainage systems
    May 8, 2012
    A variety of systems are available for quickly and efficiently removing water from roads as Patrick Smith reports. The presence of water in a highway layer reduces the bearing capacity of the road, and in doing so it also reduces the structure's lifetime. Indeed, the recent extremely cold winter in many parts of Europe has shown that in colder climates there is a risk of frost damage when water is present resulting in costly potholes, so drainage systems performing properly are important in road design.
    Read More
  • Tunnel construction benefits from improved visibility
    November 14, 2012
    Major new tunnel construction projects will, on completion, help secure more reliable journey times for hundreds of thousands of people across the world. Meanwhile, as Guy Woodford reports, leading ITS solution companies have been providing vital equipment for major road tunnels The Martina Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), a 4,500tonne Herrenknecht Earth Pressure Balance Shield said to have a world record diameter of 15.55m, has required just under a year to build the first of two tunnel tubes for the 2.5km lon
    Read More
  • Moscow city government to build relief roads and highways
    June 6, 2016
    Moscow’s congestion problems need addressing but there are different solutions that could provide the answer – Eugene Gerden writes Moscow’s city government is considering building relief roads to ease congestion on the city’s key roads and highways. This plan has been revealed by recent statements from Marat Khusnullin, deputy mayor for urban policy and construction of the Moscow city government.
    Read More

Highlighted Content