By Steve Taylor
McALLEN, Sept. 25 - McAllen Bridge Director George Ramon will be going to Washington, D.C., next week with Mayor Richard Cortez to see if he can get a firm date for the opening of the Anzalduas International Bridge.
“We will be talking to the U.S. Department of State and other agencies, trying to set up a date,” Ramon said.
“Hopefully, it will open before year's end. We are working with the appropriate federal agencies and stakeholders to bring this project online sometime in December. It behooves us to have this project ready to start operations when the busiest time for crossings is and that’s November and December.”
Ramon made his remarks in an insightful speech to the Rio Grande Valley-Tamaulipas Bi-National Chambers of Commerce group at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce offices on Thursday.
Giving the keynote address, Ramon spoke about Anzalduas Bridge and the importance of free trade for the Valley and northern Mexico. “Free trade is about breaking down the barriers and that is what NAFTA has done. It was worked,” Ramon said.
While many people think of free trade as a modern concept, because the North American Free Trade Agreement only started in 1994, its origins in Latin America go back at least 150 years, Ramon said.
He paid tribute to free trade pioneers of the 19th century, such as Benito Juárez of Mexico, Simón Bolívar of Venezuela, and José Martí of Cuba. “Their vision was free trade for the Americas,” Ramon said.
Free trade did not happen as quickly as it should have, Ramon said, not because of the complexity of the issue but because of a lack of trust. “The physiological barriers were there 150 years ago,” he said.
The advent of NAFTA, however, has created the largest trading bloc in the world, Ramon said. “Free trade has helped the border economies on both sides of the river,” he said.
In 2008, two-way trade between the U.S. and Mexico was valued at $340 billion, Ramon said. Of this, 80 percent went through Texas and a large part of it went through South Texas. “Trade has increased and the barriers have come down,” he said.
The big problem now, Ramon said, is the port of entries themselves. “Why? Because they are very congested and obviously the events of 9/11 have forced a more dramatic review of people, goods and documents coming into the country, hence the need for new border crossings,” Ramon said.
Ramon joked that he learned the art of patience while working on the Anzalduas International Bridge project. He said he started work on it when his oldest son was in first grade elementary school. That son is now in his third year of college. “It’s been a rather costly, somewhat cumbersome, process but we are here and very near completion of the project,” he said.
The City of McAllen is the managing partner in the Anzalduas bride project. The cities of Mission, Hidalgo and Granjeno are also involved. The City of McAllen has invested $42 million, Ramon said, the federal government $25.5 million, and the state of Texas $28.5 million, not including ancillaries such as utilities, drainage and in-kind contributions. “So, we are looking at well in excess of $100 million in capital investment to benefit the region,” Ramon said.
From the border station on the U.S. side to the border station on the Mexican side, the distance is 3.2 miles. Ramon said the bridge has been designed specifically to facilitate trade. It will have Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology that allows scanners to read laser visas, passports and other entry documents from a distance. It will also have a SENTRI lane, which is a dedicated commuter lane for low risk travelers.
“What we are trying to do is take away some of that congestion from other bridges so as to allow a more efficient flow of goods and people across our bridges. I would like to say this is the port of the future,” Ramon said. “We are going to have the latest and the greatest technology out there. The crossing-the-border experience is going to be much easier.”
Ramon said McAllen city leaders do not necessarily view Anzalduas as a revenue generating bridge in terms of toll collections. “What’s important to us is that it be a trade facilitator. It’s what happens beyond the bridge that’s important to the development of our communities and that’s how we view it,” he said. “This is not just for McAllen. It is for Reynosa, Monterrey, and beyond.”
Ramon added that the construction of Anzalduas International Bridge was yet another example of McAllen “doing something with a regional vision.” He pointed to the expansion of the airport and the local hospitals and the construction of the new convention center as further examples of this regional approach.
“We are doing something not even in our own town, it’s in another city (Mission), just like the bridge we own in Hidalgo (is not in our city). The vision has always been one to improve the border economy and improve the quality of life,” Ramon said.
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