The President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, has inaugurated the Mexico City-Tuxpan road, which includes the Nuevo Necaxa-Tihuatlán section, built by FCC, the Citizen Services Group, and Mexican company ICA. The Mexico-Tuxpan corridor is one of the principal infrastructure projects undertaken during the current six-year presidential mandate; it crosses the states of Puebla and Veracruz and will be the main road link between the capital city and the Gulf of Mexico.

The Nuevo Necaxa - Tihuatlán section cost 500 million euro. The road is expected to have a significant impact on tourism by facilitating access to Tuxpan, a major tourist destination.

At the event, Mr. Peña Nieto was accompanied by Mexico's Secretary of Communications and Transport, Gerardo Ruíz Esparza; the Governors of the States of Hidalgo, Mexico, Puebla and Veracruz; Bernardo Quintana Isaac, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ICA; Miguel Jurado, General Manager of FCC Construction; Vicente Mohedano, Deputy General Manager of FCC Construction for Latin America and North Africa; and Eugenio del Barrio, General Manager of FCC Construction Mexico. In his address, the President highlighted that the new road will be the shortest link between Mexico city and the cost, providing access to the port of Tuxpan.

He also reiterated his gratitude to ICA and to FCC's construction subsidiary for their "performance and work in this final section of the road, due to the challenging terrain in the region".

The project, which was built by the CONNET consortium, comprising FCC Construction and ICA, will cross the states of Puebla and Veracruz and form part of the Mexico City-Tuxpan corridor, the main road link between the capital city and the Gulf of Mexico. The road will also provide tourist access to Veracruz and afford a direct connection with the Poza Rica oil-bearing area and the Tampico-Matamoros-Reynosa corridor to the US border at Brownsville, Texas.

The most notable structure on this stretch of road is the San Marcos viaduct, over the San Marcos river, which has been named after engineer Gilberto Borja Navarrete; it has the tallest pier in America and the second-tallest in the world (255 metres) and is 850 metres long, divided into 7 spans of up to 180 metres. Its foundation required six thousand cubic metres of concrete to be poured in a single stage.

The road will also have a positive impact by reducing travel times. The trip along this section of road will take two-and-a-half hours, while the journey between Mexico City and Tuxpan will take three-and-a-quarter hours. During the work, FCC Construction maintained contacts and worked closely with local communities at all times. As a result, close to 80% of skilled labour hired was local, with the consequent economic impact on the region. Additionally, the companies gave support, donations, educational services and talks in the towns in the area, including notably San Agustín, Plan de Ayala, Teteloloya, La Esperanza, Tepapatlaxco, San Pedro Petlacotla, Nueva Tenancingo, Tacubaya and Xicotepec de Juárez.

The 48-km two-lane Ávila Camacho-Tihuatlán section of this road was opened to traffic late in 2012, providing connections to the towns of Ávila Camacho, Mecapalapa, Venustiano Carranza and Tihuatlán; this is part of Mexico's plan to upgrade 14 trunk roads.

For more details of the Nuevo Necaxa – Tihuatlán section of the Mexico City - Tuxpan corridor, watch the project video at http://bit.ly/NuevoNecaxa