CEMEX concrete helps resist Mexican waves

Company’s reinforced concrete gives long life to Mexico’s new Puente La Unidad bridge

CEMEX have played a key role in the construction of Mexico’s new ‘Puente La Unidad’ bridge, supplying reinforced concrete with technical characteristics that will give it a useful life of approximately 50 years.

The company supplied 34,000 cubic meters of concrete for the project, which is built on the Gulf of Mexico. Spanning a length of 3.2km, it is the second longest bridge in Mexico and the fifth longest in Latin America, providing a new connection between the Mexican state of Campeche and the Yucatan Peninsula.

The bridge, which will transport around 5,000 vehicles per day and benefit the region’s tourism, industrial, and commercial sectors, is built to withstand heavy vehicular loads and the extreme weather conditions of this coastal area of Mexico.

Due to the structure’s direct exposure to the sea, various innovative concretes were used to overcome the project’s challenges and provide high mechanical resistance.

To protect the structure from corrosion and avoid expansion from the penetration of sulfates, CEMEX Duramax concrete was used for its durability, as it provides a useful life of approximately 50 years. In addition, CEMEX’s high-strength Fortis concrete was used to achieve high resistance, whilst Ingenia was used to improve the concrete’s workability and ensure efficient project management.

‘For this important project, we contributed all of our experience to create an engineering design that would facilitate the durability and resistance objectives of our client, Consorcio Puente La Unidad,’ said CEMEX Mexico’s Alejandro Varés, vice-president of infrastructure and government sales.

‘We also suggested the use of our Promptis accelerated-strength concrete for more efficient time management, and our Evolution self-compacting concrete to improve the finish of the beams and facilitate the placement of piles and footings, as well as the installation of a concrete plant dedicated to the project,’ he added.