Lavender-blue peaks of the western Sierra Madre jut as far as the eye can see, the only hints of civilisation: a tendril of smoke from burning corn residue, a squiggle of dirt road. Then out of nowhere, a flat ribbon of concrete runs like a roller coaster over giant pylons, burrowing in and out of the mountainside until it seems to leap midair over a 400-metre river gorge via the world's highest cable-stayed bridge, called the Baluarte. The Durango-Mazatlan Highway is one of Mexico's greatest engineering feats, 115 bridges and 61 tunnels designed to bring people, cargo and legitimate commerce safely through a mountain range known until now for marijuana, opium poppies and an accident-prone...
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