Tulum bypass halted to protect fragile cave systems

Tulum, Mexico — The closure of a bypass road project in the heart of the Maya Jungle has been welcomed as an environmental victory by cave divers, specialists, and activists who had warned for months about the serious risk it posed to the aquifer and the country’s most important cave systems.

Had it been completed, the project would have impacted highly sensitive areas such as Sac Actun, Ox Bel Ha, Nariz, Dream Gate, and areas near Hoyo Negro, sites of incalculable scientific value where even the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) has produced documentaries due to their archaeological and paleontological richness.

The planned route of the road passed directly over flooded tunnels, fragile caverns, and cenotes of global significance, endangering not only their natural structure but also the quality of the water that supplies the entire region. For environmentalists and explorers, this bypass would have meant irreversible ecocide in a territory whose ecological importance has been widely documented.

In addition to direct damage, specialists warned that opening the road would facilitate the fragmentation of the jungle and trigger a development model based on real estate speculation, with the potential arrival of hotels, condominiums, resorts, and golf courses in areas that remain intact.

“The bypass would have crossed underground systems of extraordinary beauty and enormous fragility,” said cave diver Pepe Urbina, who explained that the impact would not only be physical but would also trigger disorderly urban growth over still unexplored ecosystems.

Faced with the severity of the risk, the cave diving community, academics, and environmental law specialists presented evidence to the Federal Attorney for Environmental Protection (Profepa) and state agencies, emphasizing the importance of the aquifer and the endemic species that depend on this underground ecological corridor. Finally, authorities determined the closure of the project.

Environmentalists described the decision as “a battle won,” though they warn that the threat has not disappeared. They believe new attempts to push similar projects without adequate studies could emerge, so they call on citizens to remain alert, informed, and participatory.

They maintain that Tulum requires mobility solutions and urban planning, but not at the expense of the ecosystem that sustains life in the region. The conservation of the aquifer — they agree — is the most just and necessary guarantee for present and future generations.