Two years after the publication of the tender, the Varela administration and the Panama Fourth Bridge Consortium signed the contract for the design and construction of the Fourth Bridge over the Panama Canal.

From the statement of the Ministry of Public Works:

November 9th, 2018. Today, the Government of the Republic of Panama, through the Ministry of Public Works (MOP) carried out the signing of the contract with the Panama Fourth Bridge Consortium, formed by the companies CHINA COMMUNICATIONS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY LTD and CHINA HARBOUR ENGINEERING COMPANY LTD, for the design and construction of the Fourth Bridge over the Panama Canal, in accordance with the award as a result of the tender for the Best Value with Separate Evaluation No. 2016-0-09-0-99-LV-004736, for an investment amount of B/.1,420,027,324.73.

The main bridge will have a 75-meter gauge and a 51-meter width and it will be of the cable-stayed type to save a main light of 510 meters and lateral lights that add 251 meters to each side. It will have three lanes in each direction and two central lines for monorail for Line 3 of the Panama Metro.

This mega project will offer road connections to and from La Amistad Avenue, Omar Torrijos Avenue, Nacional Avenue, Corredor Norte, Veracruz, Panamerican Highway (8 lanes) and the bridge of Las Americas.

The bridge will have a traffic control system that includes: variable signs, automatic incident detection (A.I.D.) and traffic control cameras. The toll system will be FREE FLOW, in other words, passage without barriers at normal speed under new toll reading gantries.

According to 2017 data, the Government of the Republic of Panama, through the Ministry of Public Works has proposed the construction of this mega work to alleviate the situation of the bridge in Las Americas and to be able to meet future demand in this area estimated at 70,000 vehicles daily.