MAJALCA, CHIH.- A network of safe rest stops is not built overnight; between identifying the corridor, defining the point, developing the project, coordinating authorities and investors and finally putting it into operation, months, even years, can pass.
The first Safe Rest Stop with Integrated Services , inaugurated in this city in northern Mexico, allows us to understand part of that process. Carlos Aguirre Quiroga, B2B director of OXXO Gas , explained to T21 that there was prior work to analyze the highways and roads before determining where to develop the project and that, once the decision was made, it took about two years of work with the authorities until its realization.
The facility also did not begin operating with all its services simultaneously. Different commercial partners gradually joined the complex starting in January, a process that continued over the following months until its official opening in August.
The precedent gains relevance after the federal government announced 15 safe rest stops as part of the actions recently presented for road safety, including the C4 Highway.
A need that goes beyond the announced projects
The scale of the need had already been recognized by the sector itself. Last April, during a press conference attended by T21, the National Chamber of Freight Transportation (Canacar) indicated that it had identified approximately 1,400 rest stops across the country , although there was no certainty as to how many of them actually met the conditions to be considered safe and comprehensive.
The organization also estimated a need for more than two thousand such spaces to serve the trucking industry in the country.
The problem isn’t limited to finding parking. According to information presented at the time by Canacar, 50% of cargo thefts occurred when drivers took breaks to attend to basic needs, such as eating or resting.
This data adds another dimension to the announced infrastructure: while the federal government is initially considering 15 new safe rest stops, the sector has raised a need that numbers in the thousands and, moreover, recognizes that not even all the spaces currently identified offer certainty about their safety conditions.
From the advertisement to the road
Tania Carro Toledo, Undersecretary of Communications and Transportation of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) , reported that, through the General Directorate of Federal Motor Transport , the agency has authorization to continue with the preparation of the executive project of nine other rest stops , while five additional ones remain under review .
This means that, in addition to the complex already operating in Chihuahua, the other 14 sites under consideration are still going through stages prior to their commissioning .
The expectation of dependency, however, does not end with those first 15.
“This is just the beginning for us. The reality is that we are already making commitments to all investors so that there will be many more,” Carro Toledo stated.
The official called on concession holders, investors, and decision-makers to participate in the development of this infrastructure. She also noted that a notice promoting investment in the construction and expansion of rest stops was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on July 18 .
Another 14 are still in process
While the first rest stop has already entered operation, the information provided by the SICT shows different levels of progress for the remaining ones: nine must continue with the preparation of their executive project and five are still under review.
For Alex Theissen, president of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Private Transport (ANTP) , the development of this infrastructure must reach the country’s strategic corridors, so he called for maintaining coordination between authorities and private initiative.
“Our expectation is that this rest stop will be a benchmark and that this effort will continue to spread to the other strategic corridors of the country,” he said.
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