City of Eagle Pass Camino Real International Bridge Expansion Project Underway, Faces Future Competition from Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge Project
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2024
The City of Eagle Pass, Texas expansion of its Camino Real International Bridge (Bridge No. 2) is underway as a critical stakeholders meeting was held on Wednesday, July 16, 2024 at the Eagle Pass International Bridge System office in Eagle Pass to discuss and plan the accelerated Presidential Permit Amendment process and the design and construction of the additional six lanes to increase them to 12 lanes, whose purpose is to handle and manage the anticipated growth of export and import trade traffic from commercial freight tractor-trailers arising from near-shoring manufacturing regulations of the United States-Mexico-Canada Free Trade Agreement.
The City of Eagle Pass and the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) have been planning for several years with the State of Coahuila and the City of Piedras Negras, Coahuila on the expansion of the Camino Real International Bridge from six to 12 lanes to accommodate the expected significant growth of international trade at the Port of Eagle Pass.
The State of Coahuila and the City of Piedras Negras have been constructing their infrastructure on the Mexican side of the bridge for several years now and are almost complete with their project, but they are still waiting for the City of Eagle Pass to apply for and receive an Amendment to its Presidential Permit to expand it from six to 12 lanes and construct the expansion of the Camino Real Bridge.
At the July 16th stakeholders meeting were Eagle Pass City Manager Homero Balderas, Jr., who formerly was General Manager of the Eagle Pass International Bridge System, Assistant City Manager Ivan Morua, who was Interim City Manager for 22 months, newly-named Eagle Pass International Bridge System General Manager Ronnie Rivera, representatives from the U. S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), representatives from LJA Engineers, and local export and import stakeholders.
The Eagle Pass City Council approved at its July 2, 2024 regular meeting the hiring of LJA Engineers at a cost of $1.53 million to assist and present the City of Eagle Pass’s Application for an Amendment to the Presidential Permit under the new fast-track Presidential Permit process approved by Congress in 2023.
The City of Eagle Pass is currently doing a multi-million dollar realignment of transportation logistics and infrastructure of the Camino Real Bridge that will take one or two years to complete in order to prepare it for expansion to 12 lanes.
The City of Eagle Pass as of May 31, 2024 was the only international bridge operator at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry, but now Maverick County has received a Presidential Permit to construct and operate a third international bridge in Eagle Pass, Texas as of May 31, 2024 upon President Joe Biden’s approval of the Presidential Permit.
However, Maverick County is not the legal owner of the third international bridge to be constructed as it endorsed through a Maverick County Commissioners Court resolution approved on July 7, 2023 to assign and transfer its legal rights (taxpayers rights) to a private for-profit company named Puerto Verde Holdings, LLC to build and operate what is called the Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge Project, which consists of building a commercial freight bridge (Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge) and a railroad line and bridge (Green Eagle Railroad) in Seco Mines and Hopedale areas just north of the City limits of Eagle Pass.
Although the newly-approved Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge Project is several years from being constructed and opened for international commercial and rail freight trade, the City of Eagle Pass will now face stiff competition from Maverick County’s receipt of a Presidential Permit to build a third international bridge under the ownership of the privately-owned Puerto Verde Holdings, LLC.
The City of Eagle Pass currently receives up to 50 to 60 percent of its annual fiscal year budget funding from the general revenues of its two City-owned international bridges. The City’s 2023-2024 fiscal budget is approximately $60 million and is certain to increase significantly each year in the future due to new commitments approved by the City Council, including the largest public wealth transfer in the history of the City on May 7, 2024 agreeing to establish a tax increment reinvestment zone (TIRZ) and a public utility improvement district for the benefit of Empire Industrial Park. LLC., waiving up to 75 percent of ad valorem taxes on the appraised increased value of the real estate development for 50 years and authorizing the issuance of potentially up to $114 million in City certificates of obligation (bonds) to pay for the construction of the public utilities and infrastructure on just this one Empire Industrial Park project.
Once the Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge Project is constructed and opened for business in the immediate future, the City of Eagle Pass will lose general revenues from the Eagle Pass International Bridge System to subsidize and fund its ballooning annual fiscal year budgets. The City of Eagle Pass and Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge Project will become competitors in commercial freight vehicle traffic.
While proponents and investors of both the Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge Project and Empire Industrial Park projects point out the increased sales taxes and ad valorem taxes to the City, County, School District, and Hospital District will financially benefit the local governmental entities, regrettably no City and County publicly-elected official and administrator took the time to read the financial analysis of the projects nor conduct its own independent financial analysis of the increased costs to local governmental entities for providing services to these projects such as fire and ambulance protection, police protection, public utilities, trash collection, maintenance and repair of roads and transportation infrastructure, parks and recreation services, and other services.
Both the City of Eagle Pass and Maverick County do not currently have the public and transportation infrastructure to accommodate the anticipated traffic and growth these projects will bring to the community. Neither the City nor the County have the political power at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas nor in Washington, D. C. to obtain funding for these needed public infrastructure projects. For instance, Loop 480 has taken many years for TXDOT to complete and our community remains the only U. S.-Mexico Port of Entry without a major four lane highway to facilitate and transport goods and products to market. The Ports-to-Plains Highway, also known as IH-27, is still many years away from being constructed.
One possible scenario may be that CBP may require that only one bridge be dedicated to commercial freight vehicles such as the case in the City of Laredo, Texas, where all commercial traffic is done through the World Trade Bridge. If that were to occur in Eagle Pass, then either the City of Eagle Pass Camino Real Bridge or Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge would be selected to exclusively handle all commercial freight traffic. Alternatively, CBP might agree to have both Eagle Pass and Puerto Verde handle commercial freight traffic, although this is highly unlikely as CBP does not have the manpower to manage two commercial freight bridges in Eagle Pass. Currently, Eagle Pass International Bridge No. 1, which only handles vehicular traffic, is only open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily because CBP does not have sufficient personnel to inspect and secure the City’s two international bridges.
In the event that CBP were to decide that all commercial freight traffic be handled at the new Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge, the City of Eagle Pass’s multi-million dollar investment in expanding Camino Real Bridge may be for naught or a waste of taxpayers funds, defeating the City’s planning of the past 20 years. Such a decision would require the City of Eagle Pass to redraw its municipal planning and expectations for international trade growth at its Camino Real Bridge, affecting the City’s general revenues in the event it should lose its capability to handle commercial traffic.
Maverick County Commissioners Court’s controversial decision to assign its legal rights of the third international bridge to Puerto Verde Holdings, LLC without consultation of the City of Eagle Pass has certainly placed a huge monkey wrench on the City’s plans for its growth and future. Similarly, the new Empire Industrial Park real estate development may take much longer (more years) to fully develop if the City of Eagle Pass were to lose its commercial freight traffic through Camino Real Bridge, which is less than a mile from the bridge.
The Eagle Pass City Council is currently reviewing what legal options it may have against the Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge Project after authorizing City Attorney Ana Sofia Berain-Garcia to research the matter at its May 7, 2024 meeting. The City of Eagle Pass has consulted with the Law Offices of Ryan Henry in San Antonio, Texas to advise it of its legal options.
City and County taxpayers may be left to pay for and subsidize the future loss of revenues through higher ad valorem taxes and increased real property appraisal values while possibly losing more than 20 years of City planning and tens of millions of dollars of investment on expanding Camino Real Bridge.
