Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, August 5, 2026 – The August 15 completion date for work near the Amado Nervo Bridge does not mean the new crossing will open to traffic that day.
Jalisco expects its complementary work on the Puerto Vallarta side to be completed by mid-month, but the bridge itself remains a federal project, with unfinished paving, safety systems, and approaches on both sides of the Río Ameca. State officials now estimate the crossing could open in October or November, while the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation, known as SICT, will set the actual opening date.
The distinction matters because the state project and the bridge are separate pieces of the same new route between Ixtapa and San Vicente. Jalisco’s work includes widening Avenida Verde Vallarta to six lanes, along with sidewalks, bike lanes, landscaping and a drainage collector near the Highway 544 connection.
That work was reported at roughly 85 percent complete at the end of July. The new collector is intended to move stormwater away from the low-lying entrance, which has repeatedly flooded during heavy rain. PVDN documented flooding near the bridge access in June, when residents near Verde Vallarta were temporarily cut off by water around the construction zone.
The bridge’s main structure is reported to be near 90 percent complete. Crews are still paving the deck, installing railings and lighting, placing road markings and signs, and finishing the connections at each end. Those remaining tasks, rather than the state’s August 15 target, determine when vehicles can use the route.
SICT said in a June 23 project update that the federally funded bridge would have six lanes and an 800-meter main span. The agency has said the route is expected to shave up to 25 minutes off some trips between Puerto Vallarta and Bahía de Banderas once it is operational.
In June, SICT projected construction completion in July, when the project was reported at 80 percent complete. The bridge did not open last month, and no federal agency has since published a date for traffic to begin using it.
Jalisco Governor Pablo Lemus has placed the opening in the final quarter of the year, according to recent local reporting. The estimate is not an inauguration announcement, and drivers should continue using existing crossings until SICT confirms that the new route is ready.
Once open, the toll-free bridge will provide a northern connection between Puerto Vallarta and Bahía de Banderas, beyond the congested Highway 200 corridor and the existing crossings near Las Juntas.
