HARLINGEN — More than 24 years after it opened, the Free Trade Bridge is the site of a project aimed at driving up toll revenues.
After months of planning, the cities of Harlingen and San Benito are working with Cameron County to build a $500,000 cold storage unit to allow northbound trucks to store their produce as they wait to pass inspection to enter the United States.
Officials expect the facility to draw more trucks to the Los Indios bridge, where toll revenues lag far behind other Cameron County bridges.
“It’s a fantastic project for the bridge,” Harlingen Mayor Chris Boswell told an audience at a city commission meeting Monday.
As part of an agreement, the city’s Economic Development Corporation will manage the project to build the cold storage unit.
In Monday’s meeting, city commissioners agreed to allow the EDC to take the lead in the project after approving a memorandum of understanding between the city, San Benito and Cameron County.
“This is a practical issue,” Boswell said. “Somebody’s got to manage the project. It’s just something that needs to be done.”
Raudel Garza, the EDC’s executive director, told commissioners he’s contacted a contractor while advertising for the facility’s maintenance and operation.
Construction, expected to begin in January, will take 60 to 90 days, Garza said.
For more on the story read Thursday’s Valley Morning Star
An 18-wheeler leaves from the Los Indios Free Trade Bridge, where reports show a 6 percent drop in commercial and transmigrant traffic this year. Overall, border crossings on the Rio Grande Valley’s international bridges dipped 3 percent.
