Cancún, Quintana Roo — A major highway project connecting Cancún to Isla Blanca is set to begin construction in April, with officials announcing a five-stage development plan that will transform transportation in northern Quintana Roo.
Quintana Roo Governor Mara Lezama has been working on the Cancún-Isla Blanca highway project since 2024, designed to improve access to one of the state’s fastest-growing urban and tourist regions. The 25-kilometer route will start at the intersection of José López Portillo Boulevard and Bonampak Avenue.
The project falls under President Claudia Sheinbaum’s “Prosperous and Connected Republic” initiative, specifically commitment 84 for “Construction of urban roadways and distributors” among her 100 government pledges. Construction will begin in the coming weeks following Governor Lezama’s meeting with Jesús Antonio Esteva Medina, head of the Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation Secretariat (SICT).
In her first government report in September 2025, President Sheinbaum listed the modern roadway connecting Cancún’s urban area to the Costa Mujeres hotel zone and continuing to Isla Blanca. The project could launch in April after the Mexican president inaugurates the Nichupté Bridge.
The Secretariat of Sustainable Urban Territorial Development (Sedetus) reported that the Cancún-Isla Blanca Tourist Corridor includes a first stage of seven kilometers that are already partially urbanized with high property values. However, the project hasn’t started due to funding shortages and remains in the pre-project phase with environmental permits pending. Construction is expected to take 30 months.
Five-Stage Development Plan
The project will unfold in five distinct phases:
- Stage 1: From the Portillo-Bonampak intersection
- Stage 2: From Playa Mujeres to Costa Mujeres, widening four kilometers of existing road
- Stage 3: Six kilometers covering all of Costa Mujeres to the beginning of the dirt road section
- Stage 4: From the dirt road to the national lands of Santa Cecilia
- Stage 5: The final connection to Isla Blanca
The project will also include lane expansions, storm drainage systems, and new signage.
Economic Impact
The highway represents an investment of approximately 3 billion pesos and is expected to benefit 750,000 people in northern Quintana Roo. It will spur tourism development in Isla Blanca and Costa Mujeres, supporting over 40,000 hotel rooms in the new zone and generating an estimated 82,000 new jobs along the corridor. Officials project the economic impact will surpass that of Cancún’s current hotel zone.
Residential developments and hotel projects are already visible along the Isla Blanca corridor, where weekend traffic congestion has become problematic. Land sales for housing development are also underway in the area.
Another infrastructure project planned for this year is a bridge to address geological faults on the Playa del Carmen-Puerto Morelos highway. The 0.4-kilometer structure will cost 300 million pesos and take 12 months to complete.
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