Tuesday, September 3, 2013 12:02 am
The opening of the Reynosa-Monterrey “autopista” less than two decades ago drastically improved trade and travel between Mexico’s third-largest commercial center and the Rio Grande Valley. The economic benefits to this area were immediate.
A soon-to-be completed highway linking this region to Mazatlan, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, could give South Texas access to much farther venues, and offer even greater trade opportunities.
Officials from Mazatlan, in Mexico’s Sinaloa state, were in the Rio Grande Valley last week looking to forge relationships with their local peers. They’ve made overtures to Pharr, McAllen, Brownsville and Port of Brownsville officials.
The networking precedes the planned completion of the Mazatlan-to-Matamoros “super via” highway, which officials tout as the first direct link from Mexico’s Pacific Coast to the Atlantic. They hope to finish the last leg of that highway, from Mazatlan to Durango, in time for an Oct. 17 dedication that several Valley officials plan to attend.
For the Valley, it could be as fortuitous as the establishment of Interstate 69.
“When we see the opportunity to build highways to other parts of the world, that’s very beneficial for our region,” Brownsville Mayor Tony Gonzalez said Thursday before a formal exchange of gifts and informal meeting between Brownsville and Mazatlan city officials.
“At the turn of the century Brownsville was isolated. The railroad connected us with the rest of the country. A hundred years later we have a highway linking us to Mexico and to the rest of the world,” Gonzalez declared.
But it’s much more.
Brownsville Economic Development Corp. spokesman Gilberto Salinas told us the highway doesn’t just link South Texas to the East Coast, it also opens avenues to Asian markets.
Currently only two primary routes link Pacific Rim countries to the central and western U.S. — through the Panama Canal, or overland from California’s ports. Those ports aren’t always dependable. In just the past five years, worker strikes and lockouts have shut them down for varying lengths of time in 2008, 2010 and most recently last December.
Salinas said the Mazatlan-South Texas highway offers a viable option that is 20 percent to 30 percent less costly than diverting to the Panama Canal. The projected 12-hour overland trip from the Valley to the Mexican port can make shipments of perishable produce, including Valley citrus and vegetables, to Asian markets more viable.
I-69 now makes South Texas an attractive route through which goods from Mexico, and from across the Pacific, can enter the United States en route to points north and west of here.
Unfortunately, the highway’s completion doesn’t guarantee success. Mexico’s strongest drug cartels operate in Sinaloa and our neighboring state of Tamaulipas. The highway could create a new drug corridor, or provide easier means for the cartels to reach each other, regardless of whether it’s to work together or do battle. Cartel control of the highway could threaten its potential as a route for more legitimate trade.
That risk was not lost on our visitors from Mazatlan.
“We need the cities and counties of this region to build agreements to work on security and other issues,” a Mazatlan city commissioner said Thursday. Brownsville Port Commissioner Ralph Cowen also said such alliances are necessary on both sides of the border to keep commerce between the two coasts fluid.
Mexico’s government has pledged to keep the highway open with heavy patrols and the latest electronic surveillance equipment. If it succeeds, our once-isolated Valley could become a much bigger player on the international trade scene.
A soon-to-be completed highway linking this region to Mazatlan, on Mexico’s Pacific Coast, could give South Texas access to much farther venues, and offer even greater trade opportunities.
The networking precedes the planned completion of the Mazatlan-to-Matamoros “super via” highway, which officials tout as the first direct link from Mexico’s Pacific Coast to the Atlantic. They hope to finish the last leg of that highway, from Mazatlan to Durango, in time for an Oct. 17 dedication that several Valley officials plan to attend.
For the Valley, it could be as fortuitous as the establishment of Interstate 69.
“When we see the opportunity to build highways to other parts of the world, that’s very beneficial for our region,” Brownsville Mayor Tony Gonzalez said Thursday before a formal exchange of gifts and informal meeting between Brownsville and Mazatlan city officials.
“At the turn of the century Brownsville was isolated. The railroad connected us with the rest of the country. A hundred years later we have a highway linking us to Mexico and to the rest of the world,” Gonzalez declared.
But it’s much more.
Brownsville Economic Development Corp. spokesman Gilberto Salinas told us the highway doesn’t just link South Texas to the East Coast, it also opens avenues to Asian markets.
Currently only two primary routes link Pacific Rim countries to the central and western U.S. — through the Panama Canal, or overland from California’s ports. Those ports aren’t always dependable. In just the past five years, worker strikes and lockouts have shut them down for varying lengths of time in 2008, 2010 and most recently last December.
Salinas said the Mazatlan-South Texas highway offers a viable option that is 20 percent to 30 percent less costly than diverting to the Panama Canal. The projected 12-hour overland trip from the Valley to the Mexican port can make shipments of perishable produce, including Valley citrus and vegetables, to Asian markets more viable.
I-69 now makes South Texas an attractive route through which goods from Mexico, and from across the Pacific, can enter the United States en route to points north and west of here.
Unfortunately, the highway’s completion doesn’t guarantee success. Mexico’s strongest drug cartels operate in Sinaloa and our neighboring state of Tamaulipas. The highway could create a new drug corridor, or provide easier means for the cartels to reach each other, regardless of whether it’s to work together or do battle. Cartel control of the highway could threaten its potential as a route for more legitimate trade.
That risk was not lost on our visitors from Mazatlan.
“We need the cities and counties of this region to build agreements to work on security and other issues,” a Mazatlan city commissioner said Thursday. Brownsville Port Commissioner Ralph Cowen also said such alliances are necessary on both sides of the border to keep commerce between the two coasts fluid.
Mexico’s government has pledged to keep the highway open with heavy patrols and the latest electronic surveillance equipment. If it succeeds, our once-isolated Valley could become a much bigger player on the international trade scene.
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