Attention to Spans: Upper Valley cities crave own bridges

August 24, 2010 12:15 AM
Martha L. Hernandez

The Monitor
SULLIVAN CITY — The Donna International Bridge is expected to open before this year’s Christmas holidays.

Now a year after the Anzalduas International Bridge opened in December, other cities are hoping to unwrap another bridge for the holidays: Sullivan City wants an international bridge of its own and Roma wants a second.

Mission, one of the cities that partnered for Anzalduas, is holding out hope it will be able to build a rail bridge in the coming years as well.

But at best, any bridge dream is likely decades away from reality. Work began in the 1970s on both the Donna and Anzalduas bridges.

MISSION RAILROAD

The Anzalduas bridge, operated by Mission, McAllen and Hidalgo, was the first new crossing between the United States and Mexico in a decade. Now Mission is lobbying the State Department to retain a 30-year-old permit that would allow them to connect railroads on both sides of the border, creating the first international railroad crossing in Hidalgo County.

The U.S. State Department told city leaders in late September that it would reconsider the presidential permit in February. After the announcement, Mayor Beto Salinas rallied Mexican and American officials and businessmen to his side.

Officials said a rail crossing would cater to Reynosa’s expansive maquiladora industry. As of now, the only two rail crossings in the area are miles away in Brownsville and Laredo, said Mission City Manager Julio Cerda. The proposed bridge would also be open to vehicle traffic.

The State Department has not yet responded.


ROMA

Roma wants to remodel its suspension bridge and participate in a vehicle international bridge planned for rural Starr County west of Roma.

“An additional port of entry means more trade and commerce,â€