Mission, Texas, bridge under scrutiny
Written by jrood
The City of Mission, Texas, is lobbying the U.S State Department to retain a permit to build another international bridge, mere weeks after the completion of the Rio Grande Valley's newest crossing, according to The Monitor. There is no plan or funding to build another crossing, but Mission city officials said they want to retain the 30-year-old permit because it allows them to connect railroads on both sides of the border, something the newly unveiled Anzalduas International Bridge does not.
"Of course we want to
keep it. We’re not going to give it to them. It is ours," said Mission
Mayor Norberto "Beto" Salinas.
The State Department
informed city leaders in late September that it would reconsider the
Presidential permit in February. After the announcement Salinas rallied local
Mexican and American officials and businessman to his side.
Officials said a
new rail crossing would cater to Reynosa’s expansive maquiladora industry. As
of now the only two rail crossings in the area are miles away in Brownsville
and Laredo, said Mission’s city manager, Julio Cerda. The proposed bridge would
also be open to vehicle traffic.
"There is a need for
a connection, especially in the rail industry, because of the maquiladoras, so
we’re working in keeping it," he said.
To that end, city leaders
and the Mission Economic Development Authority have met with the Kansas City
Southern Railway to discuss connecting a new bridge with the railway company’s
existing lines in the U.S. and Mexico. Those rails cut across a wide swath of
Mexico, including Mexico City. In the U.S. the rails run north from Texas and
through Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and Illinois, among other
states.
The permit calls for the
bridge to be constructed west of Mission and south of the Madero colonia, near
where S. Conway Avenue becomes Military Highway. Hidalgo County officials and
the county’s railroad district have expressed support, Salinas said.
Officials
envision the new rail lines connecting with rail facilities in Sullivan City
and in Hebbronville.
But Keith Patridge,
president and chief executive officer of the McAllen Economic Development Corp.
said the bridge needs to be moved further west from the site in Madero to be
closer to McAllen’s proposed Multi-modal Regional Terminal – a facility where
goods manufactured in Mexico could be loaded onto trains and taken to northern
U.S. cities. The plans call for the facility to be constructed adjacent to the
McAllen Foreign Trade Zone, near the intersection of Ware Road and Military
Highway.
"That is not as good
place today as it was 30 years ago, to build a rail bridge," Patridge
said.
The State Department is
accepting public comment on the review until February 8, when officials will
meet with other federal entities to debate the need for a new crossing, the
agency announced in the Federal Register on December 11. The department is also
reconsidering similar permits in Brownsville and Laredo.
Since 1968, the State
Department has issued 21 Presidential permits on the U.S.-Mexico border and one
on the Canadian border.
