The authorities, headed by Javier Duarte de Ochoa, Veracruz State governor, Tomas Ruiz Gonzalez, Secretary of Infrastructure and Public Works (SIOP), Joaquin Caballero, Mayor, and Rafael García Bringas, Federal Member of House of Representatives for the district of Coatzacoalcos, together with Enrique Diaz Valdes, country manager of FCC in Mexico, and Fausto Gonzalez, CEO of the Coatzacoalcos Tunnel Concession-FCC Concessions, walked through the tunnel from one side to another during the opening ceremony.

This closure operation covers the last metre and a half of tunnel to complete the underground structure that connects the two banks of the Coatzacoalcos River and thus gives birth to an infrastructure that is the first of its type in the whole of Latin America.

This infrastructure, which is currently about 85% complete, will reduce the time to cross from one bank to the other from 50 to 5 minutes, while also enabling the passage of shipping to the ports of Coatzacoalcos and Pemex, as well as the industrial development of the river basin.
The project includes the construction of a tunnel measuring a total length of 1.144 metres, of which 696 metres are underwater. With a cross section of 25.1 metres x 9.6 metres, it houses two lanes in each direction separated by an emergency gallery and electromechanical services that will allow for the relevant control, management and security systems to be run.

The Coatzacoalcos tunnel represents a technological innovation in the construction sector, as it involves a technique known as the Immersed-Tunnel Method, in which reinforced concrete tunnel sections were pre-fabricated at a dry-dock next to the river, before being specially prepared, to give them buoyancy, towed and installed on the river bed without the need to use special underground tunnelling machinery.
The 156 million Euro contract was awarded as a concession to the consortium comprising FCC and CAABSA in 2004 and includes the design, construction and operation of the tunnel for a period of 30 years. The construction joint venture is made up by FCC Construcción Infraestructura y Filiales de México and OPC.

The FCC team, with a consolidated experience in Mexico since 1994, has carried out major civil works projects that have helped improve the country’s communications and transport infrastructure, such as the Durango-Mazatlan highway that crosses the States of Durango and Sinaloa, or the Nuevo Necaxa-Avila Camacho highway, which includes construction of the Engineer Gilberto Borja Navarrete viaduct, located in the municipality of Xicotepec (Puebla) between the towns of Nuevo Necaxa and Villa Avila Camacho.