Donna Texas: Border Crossings Come in Many Forms

Nowadays, most Texas border crossing come in the form of bridges, such as the Alliance Intenational Bridge in Donna Texas or the Laredo Bridges, boasting bridges that can be considered as construction marvels, huge and modern. It is interesting to find other forms of border crossings as well.

• The Los Ebanos Ferry, formally known as the Los Ebanos-Diaz Ordaz Ferry, is a hand-operated cable ferry that travels across the Rio Grande between Los Ebanos, Texas and Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, Tamaulipas. It is the last of its kind along the entire stretch of the Rio Grande. There are also train ferries that are still operational sauch as the MV Bali Sea and the MV Banda Sea on the Gulf of Mexico. They carry reilway vehicles and are usually called car ferries, as distinguished from auto ferries used to transport automobiles.

• Falcon Dam is an earthen embankment dam on the Rio Grande between Starr County in the U.S. state of Texas and the city of Nueva Ciudad Guerrero in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The dam was built for water conservation, irrigation, hydroelectric power generation, flood control, and recreational purposes and as an international border crossing between Zapata and Starr Counties and Tamaulipas.

• The Nogales-Morley Gate in Arizona is open to pedestrians only.

• There are some rail crossings that are still operational. The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad has a very rich history, with the construction in the late 1880s. Today, many of the sections of the El Paso and Southwestern Railroad has closed down. Some are still in use, though mostly for freight only although a handful still has passenger transports.

With the advancement of construction techniques and technology, these border crossings are slowly being replaced by modern bridges, which are easier to manage, control and maintain. An example is the Alliance International Bridge, which is about 1,000 feet in length, yet having 4 lanes in each direction, a total of 8 lanes, that would surely ease the expected traffic between Mexico and Donna Texas.

Texas Manufacturing: Border Crossings and Economic Development

A group of communities around the Southwest are planning completely new and improved border crossings, hoping to bring in new Texas manufacturing jobs in their localities. A new bridge in El Paso County, Texas, could open in 2015. The challenge is demolishing an existing crossing and adding it into the new system -- the Guadalupe Tornillo International Bridge. In Nogales, Ariz., the Mariposa Land Port of Entry -- the principal port of entry for produce coming into the U.S. from Mexico -- is having a large $184 million reconfiguration that's slated to finish in 2014. And leaders in the San Diego area are planning a new freeway and port, the Otay Mesa East project, for 2015 which would cost as much as $700 million.

The hope is that a new crossing can spur commercial growth. American firms utilize low-cost workers in Mexican industrial facilities described as "maquilas" to manufacture textiles, electronic products together with automotive parts. Companies having maquilas will often have nearby corporate offices on the U.S. side, and warehousing along with trucking industries assist the circulation of products arriving north. Laredo, Texas -- the nearest U.S. crossing to Mexico’s commercial center of Monterrey -- hosts more than 1,000 logistics firms.

Over-crowding at border crossings could be a significant problem. Enhanced post-9/11 security measures have significantly increased wait times, and as more producers have moved to a just-in-time shipping and delivery model, backup on the road is often a serious problem. "That's why I think you're seeing so many bridges open up and border crossings open up," says Keith Patridge, president and CEO of the McAllen Economic Development Corp., whose organization is under contract together with the city to persuade organizations to locate to McAllen and Reynosa. "It's really being driven not necessarily by volumes of traffic but the speed at which the traffic needs to move.”

These areas believe that the investment and energy is going to be worth the effort: New crossings bring in new Texas manufacturing jobs new revenue.