Bids Requested on Acapulco’s “Macro-Tunnel”
(Acapulco, AN 18 August) Governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero announced yesterday the request for proposals from construction companies for the “Macro-Tunnel” an alternative to the Avenida Escénica (the “Scenic Highway”). The new tunnel and highway combination would connect the Icacos region of Acapulco (by the Naval Base) to El Coloso (north of Puerto Marqués) by going through the mountain that separates them. The project is expected to take at least five years to complete, as the tunnel will be 3.3 km long, and will cost over $2.5 billion pesos. The connecting highway will be 8 km long, and will not undulate, twist and turn like the current road. Today, the Escénica is considered Acapulco’s most dangerous roadway, as impatient or inebriated drivers race over its blind curves at high speeds, causing more accidents per kilometer than anywhere else in the municipality. It has also become a road that kidnappers and extortionists travel at night, looking for victims.
The main benefit of the project will be to alleviate the congestion and traffic delays that have become commonplace on the existing roadway. Traffic is constantly increasing, as the two sides of Acapulco – the bay side and the so-called “Diamond Zone” – increasingly become interconnected.
Governor Aguirre met with representatives of the National Bank of Public Works and Services (known as Banobras), the institution that will bank this public project. They agreed that this is the most ambitious project the state of Guerrero has seen since the toll road from Acapulco to Mexico City (the “Autopista del Sol”), in terms of magnitude, expense, and public benefit. No mention was made of the deadline for bids, or whether the project will be divided into segments, or when work is expected to commence on the ground.
The governor took the opportunity to remind the press of other development projects his administration is backing, such as the “Metrobus” for Acapulco and Chilpancingo (to replace the decrepit fleet of converted school buses that serve as public transportation today), and the important opening of the 45 km segment of road that connects Coyuca de Benítez in the Costa Grande with the main road axis north to Mexico City.
