El Paso Chamber fights plan to reroute commercial trucks from Bridge of the Americas

EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — The Greater El Paso Chamber of Commerce is pushing back against plans to redirect commercial traffic away from the Bridge of the Americas, warning the change could weaken a key trade corridor and threaten jobs tied to cross-border commerce.

The proposed shift is part of the General Services Administration’s modernization project, which the agency finalized last May.

Chamber CEO and President Ricardo Mora said removing commercial traffic from the Bridge of the Americas would make the region less competitive.

“If commercial traffic is removed from Bridge of the Americas, which is one of the ports on the El Paso sector, we would be less competitive,” Mora said.

Mora said the chamber is contacting federal officials to oppose the change.

“That is why the chamber today is talking to our representatives at the federal level,” Mora said. “We’re defending commerce for our community that highly relies on cross-border trade and we’re doing this for the future.”

He also argued the region should be expanding, not reducing, cross-border infrastructure.

“We should be building more cross-border trade instead of eliminating,” Mora said. “When you eliminate this infrastructure, it will not come back for the next 15 to 20 years if we start working on it now.”

The chamber’s stance comes amid criticism from local leaders.

El Paso Matters published an opinion piece from city and county leaders accusing the chamber of working behind the scenes to slow or reverse progress on the project, including hiring a lobbyist with access to high-level administration officials.

Rep. Lily Limon, who represents East El Paso and the Lower Valley, said, “After all the efforts that were taken and after all the research and investigation and the voices of the people, it appears like the Chamber of Commerce is now going behind our backs and trying to have the GSA pull this funding about. That is the real concern on this.”

Asked about those claims, Mora denied the chamber was using back channels.

“So talking about the chamber going through back channels, I would have to tell you that that is not true,” Mora said.

He said the chamber has been communicating openly with elected officials, including U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar.

“We have spoken with Senator Cornyn, we have spoken with Senator Cruz, we have spoken to Representative Veronica Escobar, to other representatives, we’ve been in Washington, the chamber advocates for better conditions for businesses,” Mora said.

Mora said the potential impact could be significant for the local economy, pointing to manufacturing jobs in particular.

“Today that means, and that’s in the manufacturing sector alone, that is about 110,000 jobs in El Paso that will be affected by the closure of an important artery that will take decades to rebuild,” he said.

City and county leaders have continued to support the modernization project, citing the risk of losing federal funding if the effort is delayed.

Commissioner David Stout, who represents Central and South Central El Paso, said May 22, “If this project, is delayed by any by any reason or for any reason. We have been told we’ve been advised that, this, the money will go somewhere else. This money will not be spent in this community.”

Mora said the chamber respects local leaders but wants more time to review the possible impacts.

“We understand that sometimes we cannot be aligned with perhaps our city representatives or our county, but we would encourage our electives to please take a look at this possibility of potentially and we’re asking just for time,” he said.

The chamber said it plans to continue meeting with state and federal representatives as discussions over the future of the Bridge of the Americas move forward.

The GSA said the contract for the project is expected to be awarded later this year, with construction expected to begin in early 2028.

Tags: