Pharr bridge to undergo wait study
PHARR - Long waits at the region's international bridges have been the bane of border commuters, but there has been no way to accurately gauge the problem - until now.
State and federal officials hope to install a new high-tech system by the end of the year to measure how long it takes for commercial truckers to travel north across the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge.
"This could be a breakthrough in terms of having hard data and measurable data," said Joseph Leal, a project manager with the Texas Department of Transportation.
Tractor-trailer drivers who cross the bridge on a regular basis would volunteer to have a radio frequency identification tag. Project leaders would then place RFID tag readers at the beginning of the line in Reynosa and at the inspection facility exit on the U.S. side.
Plans for the project will be finalized this spring, Leal said, and the system should be able to start collecting data by the end of the year. The study will provide information about volume of traffic based on factors such as time of day or season.
The Border Trade Alliance, a group that advocates for policies that improve trade relations, has pushed for such studies, arguing that wait times threaten to undermine the success of the North American Free Trade Agreement in promoting commerce. Lawmakers, including Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, also have advocated for studies of wait times at border crossings.
Similar studies are also in the works in El Paso and San Diego.
Pharr City Manager Fred Sandoval said having clear figures regarding wait times would likely help the city lobby for infrastructure improvements or more customs agents to alleviate the problem.
The RFID study also would help officials determine whether steps they have taken to reduce wait times are working.
"Once we ... identify where in the four- or five-stage process there is a bottleneck, then we can identify ways of improving it," said Juan Villa, program manager with the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, which is conducting the study.
Leal noted the RFID tags should not pose a privacy concern, since the system will not identify particular drivers or companies. The program does not have an end date and should be able to collect data for years, Leal said.
The $158,268 project is being funded by TxDOT, the Federal Highway Administration and the city of Pharr.
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Ryan Holeywell covers PSJA and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4446.
