Mexico - Mazatlan-Durango - New road to replace "Devil's Backbone" now open
 

Hi Everyone,

I did a search and couldn't find anything about this on HU, so I thought I would pitch in.

There is a new highway in Mexico to replace the infamous road, Federal Highway 40, between Mazatlan and Durango. The old road, dubbed "Devil's Backbone" is an amazing ride with hundreds of great turns and no shortage of beautiful scenery.

However, the new road is a feat of engineering featuring 63 tunnels and 115 new bridges, including the 2nd tallest cable-stayed bridge in the world, the Baluarte Bridge, 1322 ft above the riverbed.

The new highway opened a month ago, according to local knowledge (take it for what it is).

I just did a fantastic ride from Mazatlan up to El Salto (~100km from Durango) and back again. I went up the old 40 and down the new 40D, and it cost me exactly 200 pesos to head down the 40D, making it not unreasonably expensive. The new highway is in excellent shape except for a handful of potholes, the tunnels are all top notch and good fun, and the Baluarte Bridge is a sight to behold. The old highway was a lot of fun, even while watching for buses and potholes and livestock. It took me from 9 to 5, roughly. I found it nice to ride the hairpins all the way to El Salto, and then breeze home on the new highway with its gentle curves.

If you're planning a trip in Mexico, keep this in mind :)

Mex 24?
 

Thanks for the update on the new road Eric. I'd heard construction had been going on (for years, no?) but did not know any details. I rode the old road
in 1998.

I have a question for you ... if you're in that area, you may know.
Do you know if the road linking up the two sections of Mex 24 has been completed?

Mex 24 is just North of Culiacan off Mex 15. From there it runs EAST up to Guadalupe y Calvo (then turns North) which is not far from Parral. Mex 24 is mostly paved but there is about a 10 to 15 mile stretch that is dirt ... with lots of turn offs and ways to get lost. Very rugged and remote area, much like Copper Canyon.

I led 2 guys through there in 2006 and we became lost. We started in Copper Canyon, so entered Mex 24 at Guadalupe y Calvo, went WEST, then took a wrong turn and ended up exploring about 100 miles of nasty logging roads. Quite the adventure.

We saw lots of road construction up near Guadalupe, but that was it. We finally made it to the small Aldea of Tameapa .. in the dark about 9 at night after 14 hours of riding.

Tameapa is 10 miles from Mex 15.
We spent the night there and locals told us we took a wrong turn and it should only take about 4 hours if you take the right road! dohdoh:freezing:

Anyway, just wondering if that route is open. If it is, it would be a quick way to get up to Copper Canyon.

Cheers! bier

I'm sorry to say that I haven't heard anything, and my preliminary research doesn't suggest that that gap is anywhere close to being ready for paving. It was nice to learn a bit more about Mexico, though.

Thanks for contributing! Que te vaya bien :)

Hi, everyone:

I've been travelling in this area the past couple of weeks and hopefully have fairly up-to-date info to share. I rode from Durango to Mazatlan over the Sierra Madres and rode the new road all the way, which is Mex 40D, and is subject to 4 tolls along the entire route, although you can get on and off the cuota/toll road and get onto the libre/free road (Mex 40) at various points along the way. The old Devil's Backbone used to take roughly 7 hours to complete and the new road cuts that to 2.5 hours, but at the expense of all the twisties. In exchange you get to see the new Baluarte Gorge bridge as well as roughly 30-40 others and ride through more than 60 tunnels totaling 11 miles. Tolls I paid were 29 pesos, 38 pesos, 121 pesos and 64 pesos for the 4 booths along the way, which equals about $20 USD. That's expensive by some standards, but will leave that everyone to decide. I heard mixed reviews of what the new road was doing to traffic. I heard that most trucks take the old road since its free which meant a different mix of traffic on the roads. The new road was still being worked on, especially as you got closer to Mazatland. There are some potholes, some tunnels without all their lights and reflectors, signs, etc. and many crews working along perhaps as many as 30 miles of road.

As far as the Highway 24 connection, the most current map I have still shows a gap of "rough trail" between the 24 that comes east from the Mex 15. I show the turn off the 15 at near Pericos, north of Culiacan and the pavement ending at Santiago de los Caballeros. It looks like the pavement picks up again at Los Frailes and runs north toward Yerbitas before turning northeast toward Parral. The gap shown isn't defining topo, curves, etc. enough to guess well at the number of miles, but could be something like 15-25 miles?. I rode further north toward Obregon before turning east into the mountains via Rosario, San Nicolas and Yacora, etc. to get to Creel and into Copper Canyon from that side. Roads were all potholed, as per usual, but good except for the ice in the shade of trees and hills.

If I can help with anything at all let me know. Wishing you all safe riding.

Thanks for the great detailing on the "new" road. Sounds like fun! I love tunnels!

Regards the Mex. 24 road, when we did it in 2006 we had at least 4 different maps between us, including the Guia Roji book. Every one was different in this rugged area, nothing matched up and almost ALL were WRONG. There is a reason for this that I won't go into here.

Only the locals really seemed to know "the way". When we were lost, every village we'd come to would warn us of the "indios malos" in the next village.
Almost none the villages were where we thought they should be according to our maps! doh It was CRAZY. (we had no GPS)
Then, that next village on the route would say the same thing! :rofl:

In fact, everyone was friendly and as helpful as they could be ... but few had ever been very far from their village. Only the pick up drivers knew the roads ... and they finally got us hooked up and back on track. But that was '06 ... and I know that the Drug trade have since invaded those areas and I hear Meth labs are prevalent now.
(or were a few fews back). Culiacan is a major Cartel center, very dark history.

Rode update
 

Rode the Espinoza Del Diablo a few days ago. Fantastic ride and views. Freshly paved sections and hardly any traffic.
Steve