New Boca del Cerro Bridge at Section 1 of the “Tren Maya” railway

The new Boca del Cerro Bridge is in southern Mexico at the exit of the Usumacinta River Canyon, in the city council of Tenosique in the state of Tabasco. A place of an extraordinary environmental value.

This area is also a strategic crossing point, in which the actual Bridge over the Usumacinta River was built in 1950. It is a structure of extraordinary value, which is a milestone of the engineering of the time, with an upper arch of steel truss.

The new Boca del Cerro Bridge has been designed, for the new Section 1 of the “Tren Maya” railway, parallel to the actual bridge. The solution adopted for the new bridge consists of a main span of double steel truss with double composite action (steel and concrete) and variable depth, that will be embedded in two lateral compensation spans of prestressed concrete.

The new bridge has been designed in order to ensure a minimal “competition” and intrusion with the existing bridge and to enhance the beauty of the surrounding nature.

The structural typology election has been conditioned by the advantages of its constructive process, that allows structure built‐up without riverbed support. To achieve this, the central span is planned to be erected by incremental cantilevers, carrying truss segments over the deck.