Getting to Mazatlan recently got a lot easier for those living in Durango, Monterrey and other northern Mexico ciites. An engineering marvel called the Baluarte Bincentennial Bridge now makes the highway to Mazatlan much quicker and easier. This is apparently has become eligible for the Guiness records (you can see an explanatory Baluarte Bridge Video for details).   Of course, to us at Mayarental it means easier access to the Mayan Palace in Mazatlan

Located on the Durango–Mazatlán highway, Mexico 40D,  the bridge spans 3,688 ft  (well over half mile)  with a central cable-stayed span of 1,710 feet.  The height above the valley floor of 1322 feet makes it the the highest cable stayed bridge in the world.  There are only two bridges in the world higher and none in the Americas.

Construction  of the bridge began in 2008,  but it didn't open to traffic until late in 2013.  The bridge has reduced the driving time form a previous 6 hours to only 2 and 1/2 hours.   Mexico is however, very large and the driving time from Monterrey to Durango is still around 9 hours.  So this bridge is good news to those using the port of Mazatlan, and to those living in the Durango area, but the distances across Mexico in areas with travel warnings, probably make it not very useful to our American guests.

As you might expect for such a huge project. the cost has exceeded the orginal  bid of US$118 million by a large margin.  , Around 2,000 vehicles are expected to use the bridge daily. During the ceremony, President Calderón hailed the bridge as a way to "unite the people of northern Mexico as never before.

You can find all the details of the construction in the Wikipedia article