Starr County officials say they favor building new bridge

MIGUEL ALEMAN - Starr County authorities would rather build a new bridge more adapted for commercial trade than remodeling the Roma-Miguel Alemán bridge.

They say an upstream bridge with Ciudad Mier would allow them to grow more than they can with the Roma bridge, which leads right to the heart of that city.

“For one we do not have the space to stack our 18-wheelers, we don’t have a cold storage for produce, we don’t have the infrastructure that is needed for it to become commercial port of entry, like Laredo,” said Starr County Judge Eloy Vera.

Miguel Alemán Mayor Servando Lopez Moreno said Starr County officials are throwing away what they already have when it hasn’t yet met its full potential; the actual bridge has not reached its maximum crossings capacity.

“And to get another bridge approved will take years,” Lopez said in Spanish.  

Roma’s city manager Cris Salinas also agrees with the new bridge proposal.

For the first time, a Mexican town is investing and expanding its side of the international bridge more than its U.S. counterpart. The U.S. authorities prefer to build a new bridge than invest in the one they already have and that is surrounded by the town, Lopez said.

“We just finished remodeling the Mexican side of Customs Department, but Roma is still the same and it has become a bottleneck,” Lopez said in Spanish. “Besides they close the import lot very early and that inhibits the import-export business going through our town.”

The two towns are as closely linked as those down the river, he said.

“It is great that McAllen is doing good, Mission and Brownsville because that benefits Reynosa and Matamoros,” López said.

“But that is not the case with Roma and Rio Grande City, because if they don’t grow, we don’t grow,” Lopez said.

Martha L. Hernández covers Mission, western Hidalgo County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4846.