Cancun Road Construction – Beware!

Hola Besties,

Got Patience?

You will need a little more than usual for the next 2 years.

Cancun is growing faster than a Red Kangaroo.

A quick look at the city skyline makes it clear that the state bird is the Construction Crane.

To handle this growth they are looking to the future and starting multiple road, airport, and train construction projects.   And they are starting them all at once.

With all that growth come traffic and congestion.

To head that off, Mexico is putting its pesos where its plans are.

There are 4 construction situations you need to be aware of.

1. The new 6-lane Cloverleaf at the Cancun Airport to help move people in and out of the airport.
2. Expanding the road to Playa del Carmen and Tulum
3. A new airport in Tulum
4. The Mayan Train connecting Q-Roo to Tulum

Here is what they are saying:

1. 1. The 6-lane Cloverleaf and work on the road from the airport to the Hotel Zone is now underway and scheduled to be completed in Oct 2023.  The Hotel Zone is only about 25 minutes from the airport.  But expect that 25 minute to double until this work is completed.   They will push to get this done as fast as possible.

1. 1. They are expanding the 26 kilometers of road through Playa del Carmen to Tulum.  This will fix the sinkhole problems and expand the lanes so getting to Riviera Maya and Tulum will be cut in half.  It will also upgrade the rat’s nest of electrical wires along the road.  This is really needed…..the bridges that tried to de-congest the road around Playa del Carmen is totally outdated. Who knows how long this will take….but expect it to be about 2 years.

1. 1. The planned Tulum Airport is expecting 4 million passengers per year.  It is something people have talked about for years.  Cenotes, Flora and Fauna have put up a real fight but it looks like it is finally going to happen (even though it was put on temporary hold). That will cut the 90-minute drive from Cancun to Tulum down to a few minutes.   The downside is that the Tulum area is going to have a hard time absorbing the number of visitors the airport will dump onto this laid back stretch of Paradise.

1. 1. The Mayan Train is a pet project of President Obrador.  He pushed hard to get it moving but it is running up against people protecting the rainforest, indigenous people, and lots of people with their hands out.  When it is done it will be able to move a lot of people and open the Bacalar area on the Belize border south of Tulum.

So, Quintana Roo (or QRoo if you’re cool) is set for a LOT of construction.   Construction equals congestion.   Congestion equals time.  Some days will be fine, and others won’t.  So double down on airport beers and be sure to bring one of these Check PricesTravel Pee Containers with you.   Can’t say I have used one, but there is nothing worse than having to pee in a traffic jam.

The moral of this blog post is ‘be sure to pack extra patience‘ so you don’t end up cranky before your vacation even gets started.

Travel safe, stay healthy, and take a potty break before you leave the airport.

That is how it looks from the Backseat.

Saludos,

`Jake