PHARR, Texas - When it comes to its international bridge and the second span currently being built, the City of Pharr has benefitted from excellent relations with federal officials in Mexico.
This is the view of Luis Bazan, director of the Pharr International Bridge. In fact, Bazan says, the expansion would not have happened at the speed it has without binational cooperation.
“When we talk about the Pharr International Bridge, I like to look at things as a system. It's a bridge system. It's several projects, investments, several process improvements, technologies. But it takes place on both sides of the border, and there are many key people, many impact players involved,” Bazan said.
“It's a system of folks from different dependencies, different agencies across the board, mostly at the federal level. But it has to be binational, both in the US and Mexico.”
Bazan gave an interview to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service during a recent Bridge Connect session hosted by the Pharr Bridge Board. He said there is a binational group of federal officials he has to report to every time new proposals for the bridge are devised.
“There's the binational delegation that we present to every time there's an update. The last update that was given to the binational association, the binational delegation was in Mexico City, was in March of 2024. And my understanding is that there's another one coming up. So, we will be there to update the delegation again,” Bazan said.
“These are federal folks, from both the US and Mexico, that we give an update to. When you go up to this delegation, they basically tell you whether you're going in the right direction or whether you're not. Does it meet their needs? Does it not meet their needs? Do they have the personnel to cover it? Do they not have the personnel to cover it? Do you have the funding in place? Do you not have the funding in place?”
Bazan said Pharr is “very fortunate” to have city leaders that know how to do things right, to get the bridge to the next level.
“It’s all about coordinating with all our federal partners in both US and Mexico, because we want to make sure that we align. If we don't align, it's not going to happen.”
Bazan said the City of Pharr was able to amend it presidential permit in 2020 so that the second span project could move forward.
“We did it in record breaking time from October to December 2020 and here we are. Mexico finished their portion of the bridge expansion about three or four months ago. They're fully operational now. It has not been officially stated, but we're going to get to that point once we finish our portion of the bridge,” Bazan said.
“Right now, if you consider the current bridge and what Mexico has, like you said, it's about 70% of the bridge (that is complete). Right now, we're at about roughly 30% of the construction on our end, maybe a little bit more. So it's coming along, and we will finish our portion of the bridge on the US side by November of 2025.”
Editor’s Note: Here is a video recording of the Guardian’s wide-ranging interview with Luis Bazan:
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