Given the wear and tear on roads caused by truck traffic and the effects of climate change, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT) will rehabilitate just over 15,000 kilometers (km) of highways and will also ensure compliance with truck weight and size regulations.
“A sensitive issue in the premature deterioration we’re experiencing is the issue of loads, weights, and dimensions of road transport. The Undersecretariat of Communications and Transportation, through the Mexican Institute of Transportation (IMT) , and the General Directorate of Technical Studies are now regulating this new regulation. They’re already working on it,” said David Omar Calderón , Director General of Highway Maintenance at the SICT.
During his participation in the IV Transportation Infrastructure Forum , organized by the College of Civil Engineers of Mexico (CICM) , he mentioned that to carry out the rehabilitation, the SICT will acquire 30 paving trains, 20 of which will be for the toll-free highway network.
With this new equipment, he explained that more than 15,000 km of the trunk and basic rail network will be rehabilitated. “We can provide services quickly and not depend on a bidding process. Today, the first contract for 10 trains was issued, and we are in the process of supplying the asphalt mix; these are open bidding processes,” he emphasized.
He commented that the investment to be made for this new equipment is approximately 1.4 billion pesos (mdp) and pointed out that the first 10 paving trains should be delivered in the first week of next July.
The SICT official commented that they have detected that 30% of Mexico’s secondary road network has not had any intervention in the last 30 years.
“There are approximately 17,000 km of the existing road network, out of the 41,000 we have, and we’ll be working on structural and paving projects. These are basically the main roads that extend from a main road network to medium-sized cities,” he explained.
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