A plan to build what could prove to be a $160 million new U.S.-Mexico border crossing has taken a significant step forward.
In a joint press conference, the mayors of the cities of Juarez and Sunland Park have announced a new phase for what is being called the Camino Real Tierra Adentro land crossing, so named in honor of a nearly 1,600-mile road that once existed in the 19th century between the state of New Mexico and the nation of Mexico.
That new phase comes with the announcement of the Mexican federal government endorsing the project.
“Approval of this project is a great step toward seeing it done,” Cruz Perez Cuellar, the Mayor of Juarez, remarked in a press conference.
Speaking to the publication Border Report, Sunland Mayor Javier Perea also commented: “This is the closest we have ever been to getting this port of entry. This is now a federally recognized project in Mexico and eligible for federal funding.”
Continued Perea: “The benefit of having a port of entry here is it helps alleviate wait times at all area border crossings.”
The crossing has previously been envisioned as a bridge for both pedestrian as well as vehicular traffic. An earlier study predicted that up to 1,500 passenger vehicles and just over 200 pedestrians would use the bridge on a daily basis.
The crossing would go up on the U.S. side just to the south of McNutt Road, by way of an extension of Sunland Park Drive. That area, according to the Las Cruces Sun News, comprises a “vacant stretch of 750 acres that covers the United States and Mexico.”
Many obstacles to building the new crossing remain, including securing the approval of the federal government in Washington.
By Garry Boulard
