To upgrade two always busy ports of entry, the town of San Luis, Arizona, which sits on the U.S./Mexico border, is seeking up to $25 million in funding out of Washington.
The funding request has been made to the Department of Transportation and is specifically asking for what is called a Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant.
Such grants are folded into the big Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was passed in late 2021, and provides some $7.5 billion in funding to be dispersed to local infrastructure projects.
If secured, the grant funding would pay for the upgrading of a 5-mile stretch along Cesar Chavez Boulevard. That roadway runs in an east-to-west direction and connects the San Luis I International Port of Entry with the San Luis II Commercial Port of Entry.
In a letter sent earlier this year to Transportation Department Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Krysten Sinema noted that the Cesar Chavez project will see the building of a “four-lane divided roadway that will include a shared-use path, sidewalks, signalized pedestrian crossing, street lighting, bus bays, transit stops and shelters.”
City officials have long argued that upgrading Cesar Chavez Boulevard will also allow for a steadier flow of traffic, while also helping to reduce vehicular emissions and pollution in the area.
The original San Luis Port of Entry was completed during the Great Depression. The $42 million San Luis II Commercial Port of Entry was opened in November of 2010. Crossings at the ports of entry are in excess of 2.3 million people annually.
By Garry Boulard
