EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A federal agency is proposing permanently banning commercial truck traffic from the Bridge of the Americas in El Paso, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, said on Friday.
The General Services Administration’s recommendation comes as the federal government readies a multimillion-dollar overhaul on one of the busiest ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border. The agency will open a 45-day public comment period on the proposed redesign of the structure ending Nov. 4, Escobar said.
“I know that the announcement of no commercial traffic on the Bridge of the Americas (BOTA) as part of the environmental impact statement phase will be great news for some members of our binational community and will be unwelcome news for some members of our binational community,” the congresswoman from El Paso said during an online briefing with reporters.
She was referring to years-long protests by residents of South-Central El Paso concerned about heavy traffic, noise and pollution the truck crossing brings to their neighborhoods.
On Friday afternoon, La Mujer Obrera organizing project and Familias Unidas del Chamizal welcomed the announcement regarding the proposed removal of commercial trucks from BOTA.
“During the actual construction component (of the port’s renovation), which will begin in two years — we will be breaking ground in late 2026 – commercial traffic will be eliminated during construction anyway. It’s one year, best case scenario, to up to three years,” Escobar said. “If commercial traffic goes away for three years, anyway, wouldn’t it make sense to begin thinking about the permanent elimination in order to make sure the bridge is constructed in the most efficient way?”
The Bridge of the Americas links the central portions of El Paso and Juarez, Mexico. It handles commercial, passenger car and pedestrian border traffic. Both Escobar and local government agencies such as the Texas Department of Transportation say truck traffic at BOTA has decreased in recent years.
That’s because new maquiladoras have been setting up shop farther and farther east in Juarez, with their manufactured goods and parts sent across the border through the nearby Ysleta Port of Entry.
But BOTA continues to be used by thousands of motorists visiting family, doing business or seeking entertainment in Juarez.
“We would not have supported the removal of commercial traffic if the other ports of entry in the region could not absorb commercial traffic that will no longer go thought he bridge of the Americas,” Escobar said.
Those include Ysleta, the Marcelino Serna bridge in Tornillo, Texas, and the border crossing at Santa Teresa, New Mexico, about 18 miles across the state line. But federal officials a couple of years back considered closing the Tornillo commercial operation due to lack of traffic, and the federal government is also considering a major expansion of Santa Teresa due to increasing truck traffic.
Escobar said work has been done to keep Tornillo open and that she’s talked to regional stakeholders about Mexico needing to promote its use more.
Thor Salayandia, board member of the Mexican Chamber of Industry, said it would be regrettable for local industry to lose the Bridge of the Americas option.
“We need more bridges, more operating hours and more (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) personnel to foster international commerce. (Ysleta) has too much traffic. If they close the Bridge of the Americas, we will have to find ways to send our exports,” he said.
Escobar said she would not have supported the GSA design proposal if she didn’t think the other land ports in the region could not absorb the extra truck traffic from BOTA.