Partial funding secured for commercial expansion of Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge

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McALLEN — Donna officials announced the city has successfully secured a portion of the $100 million in funding needed to build two northbound commercial lanes at the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge.

Donna has secured just over $29.3 million in funding via the issuance of sales tax revenue bonds by the city’s two economic development corporations.

“We closed on two bond issuances — one for the (EDC) 4A, one for the (EDC) 4B. One was $15 million, the other one was $14.3 million,” Donna Finance Director David Vasquez said.

Vasquez’s announcement came during a meeting of the Donna Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone, or TIRZ, board of directors at the Chase Tower in McAllen on Thursday.

“That’s only a part of what we need to get this bridge done,” Vasquez said, before referring to the accomplishment as “an awesome step forward.”

Donna has been working to expand the bridge to accommodate commercial truck traffic since 2019, when it first broke ground on what would become the two southbound “empty” lanes — lanes designed for commercial drivers heading back into Mexico to reload their trailers.

Now the city is working on the other half of the commercial traffic equation — building two northbound lanes for trucks to cross into the U.S. fully laden with produce, car parts and other products.

Donna’s plan involves cobbling together funding from several different sources. The nearly $30 million in bonds issued by the two development corporations is just one part.

Another portion of funding is coming via government grants — some $8.9 million from the Texas Department of Transportation for road-related construction, and $12.1 million from U.S. Customs and Border Protection which will go toward installing “nonintrusive inspection technology,” Donna City Manager Carlos Yerena said.

The bulk of the funding, however — approximately $60 million — will come from debt incurred by the city of Donna itself, the city manager explained to the TIRZ board via phone.

“We’re in the process now of going out and getting the remainder of the funding. We are gonna do that through revenue bonds,” Yerena said.

The city manager was optimistic about how soon that funding could be obtained.

“We anticipate that, within the next 30 to 45 days, we will be able to sell the bonds and have the financing, the funding, in place,” Yerena said.

Repayment of the debt will also come in various forms.

The $60 million in revenue bonds will be repaid using proceeds from bridge tolls as people and truckers pay to cross.

Meanwhile, the sales tax revenue bonds issued by the EDCs will be repaid using a portion of the sales tax revenues each corporation receives.

The sales tax revenue bonds are divided up even further.

The 4A EDC closed on $14.36 million divided into what are called “term bonds” that have four different maturation dates between 2033 and 2052.

Those term bonds also carry different interest rates, according to the bond issuance’s official statement as posted to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s website, the Electronic Municipal Market Access, or EMMA.

The four term bonds issued by the 4A EDC are as follows:

The 4B EDC closed on $15 million via five distinct term bonds as follows:

By the time the bonds are paid off, the 4A EDC will have paid a total of $32.5 million on the $14.36 million issuance, including $18.2 million in interest.

The 4B EDC will pay a total of $21.1 million in interest during the life of its $15 million issuance, for a total of $36.1 million in debt.

The bonds are also coming at a higher cost than previously anticipated. Last summer, the board of directors for the two EDCs voted to approve just $10 million in debt each.

Once all the funding is secure — including the city’s revenue bonds which have yet to be issued — Donna will put the project out for bid. Construction itself should take approximately 14.5 months, Yerena said.

However, despite the pop culture adage that promises, “if you build it, they will come,” completed construction does not guarantee that commercial truckers will use the bridge.

Donna has seen that firsthand with the lanes for the “empties.”

Completed more than a year ago, those lanes have yet to see use as Donna continues negotiations with government officials on the other side of the Rio Grande.

“We feel very positive that we’re gonna be able to move forward with the crossing for the empties,” Yerena told the TIRZ. “We’re (going to be) working very hard in Mexico City next week to try to get that going.”