El Paso Tx Traffic Report – South Central El Paso residents are calling on the federal government to redirect commercial traffic away from the Bridge of the Americas
The American Bridge is the port of entry into Mexico south of El Paso. It is also called “Puente Libre” or “Free Bridge”.
El Paso Tx Traffic Report
EL PASO, Texas () – The federal government’s plan to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the Bridge of the Americas in south El Paso comes amid calls to ease commercial truck traffic at the port of entry.
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Under the Biden administration’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, international border crossings would receive between $650 million and $700 million for modernization projects. After several public meetings, based on feedback from residents and neighborhood organizations, the federal government has already put forward a proposal that would avoid purchasing county properties, including the El Paso Coliseum and events center.
But the issue of commercial traffic remains a major concern for residents who live within a mile of the bridge. Homeowners and members of the same neighborhood organizations issued strong statements pressuring local and state officials to come up with a plan that would redirect heavy trucks and other commercial traffic to other ports of entry.
“It’s a sad situation that these trucks are coming here, destroying neighborhoods and increasing air pollution,” Quirino Villa, president of the Delta Washington Park Neighborhood Association, said during a public meeting Saturday.
U.S. Attorney Veronica Escobar of El Paso said she has received feedback from her constituents. The traffic will require intervention from the U.S. State Department because the bridge is shared with Mexico, he added.
El Paso District
“I want the public to know that we are discussing eliminating commercial truck traffic from this Far Eastern city in order to make the Bridge of the Americas more pedestrian and navigable,” Escobar told reporters.
In a letter to the state government, El Paso County commissioners disagree over how much representation they should give to commercial traffic on the bridge. They discussed and agreed to send the letter three times this year, the third time on Monday.
In a recent decision, the commissioners made some changes to the language of their letter to avoid conveying the message that they will only support the bridge project if the federal government guarantees that traffic will be rerouted from the Bridge of the Americas.
The court voted 3-2 in favor of the new language. Commissioners Iliana Olguin and David Stout voted against the new ordinance. District Judge Ricardo Samaniego and Commissioners Sergio Coronado and Carlos Leon voted for him.
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County Commissioner Stout, who represents areas near the bridge, said the language does not adequately reflect his residents’ demands to move commercial vehicles away from the port of entry.
Some of his fellow travelers from the San Juan Neighborhood Improvement Association and Familia Unidas del Chamizal called a meeting to urge the court to issue a ruling that would no longer allow commercial traffic to continue using the bridge.
“The letter that has now been written to me says that we have chosen to ignore the residents’ complaints and that it is right for the federal government to do so,” Stout said.
El Paso County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said the letter’s new language lays the groundwork for the county to make arrangements to enter another port that will handle commercial traffic at the Bridge of the Americas. He said the Tornillo Bridge in El Paso County could be an option.
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“I want to be at the table and I feel like the end takes us off the table,” Samaniego said. “I am determined to work hard so that we do not have commercial traffic (at the Bridge of the Americas). I want to do it in a very intelligent way. “
The US General Services Administration is currently responsible for presenting project proposals to the public. The overall plan of the bridge project is to improve pedestrian, passenger, commercial and experimental areas and port facilities.
The project is at an early stage where no decisions have been made and government officials are receiving feedback from the public.
The federal government has planned to prepare an environmental impact statement and a feasibility study in September. According to GSA officials, the feasibility study will help identify three alternatives for the project.
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However, due to federal government policy, not all of the study’s results may be available to the public, according to Charlie Hart, executive director of the GSA’s Southern Border.
“Actually, they are limited to the executive branch of government because it is a decision-making document that is normally used for financial planning,” Hart said Friday at a meeting of the Metropolitan Planning Organization.
The construction work is not expected to be completed before 2031. GSA officials say the upgrades will be done in phases to ensure the bridge remains open during construction.
“When we looked specifically at Customs and Border Protection, they said closing the port was not an option,” Hart said. “During construction there will be a section where there will be no commercial vehicles. And this phase can last a year. “
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The port of entry was built in 1967 and received replacement bridges in 1998. It was built after the governments of the United States and Mexico ratified the Treaty of Chamizal, which settled a centuries-old dispute over 600 acres of land along the Rio Grande. until the end.
The neighborhoods are within walking distance of the Bridge of the Americas and are close to highways through which much commercial and other traffic crosses the border. During peak hours of the day, it is not uncommon to see large traffic jams on the highways standing still, waiting to pass.
Companies in cross-border trade are thinking about what happens to trade if it is redirected to other ports of entry.
He said other ports of entry in the region would have to increase the number of routes they use if the federal government blocks commercial vehicles from the Bridge of the Americas. The port of entry is also called the Cordova Bridge.
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Baca-Kotkowski said officials also need to work with tax authorities in Mexico to coordinate changes in commercial transactions.
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