MCALLEN, RGV – McAllen Mayor Jim Darling says Tamaulipas Governor Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca is going to start a highway patrol on the western side of Reynosa.
When he does so safety will be improved at Anzalduas International Bridge and truck traffic numbers will increase, Darling believes.
“We met with the Governor of Tamaulipas, Keith did, and one thing they are going to initiate, hopefully, is a highway patrol starting off on the western side of Reynosa that should help Anzalduas,” Darling said at a recent McAllen Economic Development Corporation meeting.
The “Keith” Patridge referred to is Keith Patridge, president of McAllen Economic Development Corporation.
“We have had some particular problems with security as it relates to the use of the bridge,” Darling reported. “We saw that directly. There is a direction correlation between that (violence) and what is going on at the bridge.”
Darling made his comments in response to the latest traffic count numbers, unveiled by Juan Olaguibel director of operations for McAllen’s two international bridges, Anzalduas and Hidalgo.
“For the month of July, we had a decline in car traffic for the McAllen-Hidalgo Bridge of three percent and a 13 percent decrease in traffic at the Anzalduas International Bridge,” Olaguibel reported. “Year over year we are seeing a one percent decrease for both bridges.”
Darling believes that 13 percent drop in traffic at Anzalduas International Bridge in July was largely caused by violence at the bridge. He hopes the introduction of a highway patrol by the Tamaulipas government will prevent violence in the future.
In his report to McAllen EDC board members, Mayor Darling said things are not moving as quickly as he would like when it comes to new infrastructure being installed at Anzalduas International Bridge.
“The bridge, we’re ready for expansion cargo going north. We kind of reached a hiccup because our Mexican concession, I don’t know what else could happen to us, but our Mexican concessionaire doesn’t have the funding to do the Mexican side so we’re exploring processes as it relates to that,” Darling said.
On a brighter note, Olaguibel announced that a free concert will take place on Anzalduas International Bridge on Tuesday evening, Aug. 22. He said the concert, which will run from 7 to 10 p.m., is being staged to celebrate the first anniversary of southbound tucks crossing the bridge.
“We will have a concert at the bridge. We have a band that has agreed to play called Spikes on the Road, and for this one evening they are going to be called Spikes on the Bridge. It is made up of managers in the maquiladora association,” Olaguibel said.
Here is the flyer for the concert:
