Testimony
United States Senate
Committee on Environment and Public Works
August 11, 2003
Provided by Pat Townsend
Mission Economic Development Authority
Chairman Inhofe, thank you for your
leadership; Senator Cornyn, we appreciate your return visit on this business of
the Senate; and Chairman Johnson - thank you for being here today to share your
agency’s views. And, thank you, Mr. Stockton and Mr. Frankel for your visit and
testimony. You have heard from many of our regional leaders today, and I hope I
won’t take too much time repeating what has already been said.
I am the President of the Mission
Economic Development Authority, an organization charged with continuing to
foster growth in the 4th fastest growing MSA in the nation for the
past 5 years according to the U.S. Census Bureau (and in the top 5 for the past
10 years). I want to briefly wrap up and touch on some things that were not
mentioned but will have an impact on our highway infrastructure.
One of those is the Sharyland
Plantation, a 6,000 acre master planned mixed-use community that currently
includes 10 residential subdivisions, a growing retail sector, apartments, an
extended-stay hotel, a 43,000-square-foot medical diagnostics center and a
900-acre business park, with 650 acres in foreign trade zone status. Several companies, such as Symbol
Technologies, Black & Decker and T-Mobile, already have begun operations at
the business park. And as Mr. Summers
noted earlier, trade with Mexico is growing, and they are becoming an even more
important trade link for our economy. The tenants at
the business park all have direct ties to Mexico and will be responsible for
even more U.S.-Mexico trade activity.
Some of these
businesses expedite products being shipped from other states to Mexico, and
others take products, assemble them in a finished product and ship them back in
to our country. For example, Whirlpool is one of 6 companies in the
McAllen/Reynosa area choosing a campus environment of 40-60 acres in size with
end products resulting in as many as 100 trailers outbound from each campus,
and nearly as many inbounds. Some of Whirlpool’s sub-assemblies are northbound
through the heart of Texas to Tulsa, where Oklahomans turn them in to stoves.
In spite of trends elsewhere in Mexico, we expect even more companies to join
Whirlpool, Corning Cable and Maytag. We say that with confidence because
Reynosa is the only city in all of Mexico not to show a loss in jobs in the
maquiladora industry for the previous two years (INEGA 2003). So, our continued
growth is linked to the economic growth of other areas in Mexico, Texas and in
many parts of the U.S.
Another development in the Valley
that will impact trade and our highway system is the proposed Anzalduas Bridge. It is expected to be complete
in 2006 and much of this bridge is locally funded by the partnership of Mayor
Franz’s city, Hidalgo, and the cities of McAllen and Mission. This bridge truly represents an
international partnership. The U.S. Border Station, TxDOT, area governmental
entities and others partnered with the Mexican state of Tamaulipas and the city
of Reynosa on this bridge project. This new bridge will have a direct impact on
the Sharyland Plantation by providing a direct connection between the Sharyland
Business Park and the business and industrial parks in Mexico. Key to this
connection is Grupo Rio San Juan, owner and developer of approximately 16,000
acres of land containing the Mexican port of entry and a master planned
community containing a large and growing industrial park, Parque Villa Florida,
complimenting that of the Sharyland Business Park. A major tenant in Villa Florida is Black & Decker, whose
presence has encouraged suppliers to locate on both sides of the border.
The Anzalduas Bridge has been planned
to allow better highway connections and avoid disruptions for trade traffic.
The U.S. port of entry is 3.5 miles south of Expressway 83 (future I-69), with
12 miles separating I-69 from the Autopista tollway linking Reynosa to
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. Monterrey is the industrial capital of Mexico, with over
4 million inhabitants only 120 miles away. Our existing bridges strain to handle the current volumes of traffic,
especially trucks. With 47% of
all trucks and 30% of all vehicles using Texas land ports crossing the bridges
in the Valley, new connections that link our border to major trade highways are
the key. Trucks waiting at the border
mean higher costs and lost profits. As per the terms of the U.S. Presidential
Permit, the bridge will open accommodating passenger vehicles and incorporate
commercial truck access as inspection agencies and GSA secure necessary
Congressional funding authority.
Links to our international bridges
are also important now that our traditional traffic patterns are north-south
oriented. The Military Highway (SH 1016/US 281) expansion is an example of how
we can create additional connections between international bridges and relieve
some of the traffic on U.S. Expressway 83, which is nearing or at capacity in
some areas.
As you heard today, interstate
service is extremely important for the Valley. We remain the single largest
populated area in the nation without interstate highway service. Several
speakers have pointed to statistics on what I-69 would mean to the area, the
state and the nation, so I won’t repeat those. The bottom line is that the Valley is already handling levels of truck
traffic comparable to areas of the state that have interstate highway service.
As an example, there are as many as 10,500 trucks on interior segments of U.S.
281 on any given day, which is comparable to I-10 in Harris County and I-45 in
the Dallas area.
You have already heard today about
our support for an amendment to TEA-21 or new language in the federal
reauthorization bill that will assist in designating highways that connect to
U.S. deep water ports or U.S. ports of entry to the Interstate System.
You have seen the results of the just completed update to
the regional mobility plan and heard about some other major transportation needs,
such as rail realignments and additional east-west corridors, such as Military Highway. This project, by the way, could link bridges
and help relieve traffic on U.S. Expressway 83, which as I mentioned is already
overburdened though expansion work is barely completed in some sections. It is also a possible toll project, one that
could serve as a model for coordinating preservation of important habitat areas
and roadway planning and development.
By the way, a word or two about our regional mobility plan. This effort is 100% locally funded. A thank you is due to Valley elected
officials and leaders for their support of this effort and their hard work on
this project. It is really a unique
effort given the large geographical area and coordination of multiple MPOs and
rural areas. A note of appreciation to the Valley Partnership and Mr. Summers
for his leadership over the last decade on this effort and to the very
competent and professional folks from the Pharr District of TxDOT for their
daily help with transportation planning, construction, and maintenance.
Mayor Franz already touched on the importance of
streamlining the environmental process for critical transportation projects.
President Bush’s Executive Order in October 2002 for streamlining environmental
review of important infrastructure projects, such as I-69, and your work
Chairman Inhofe is exactly on point with our concerns.
You have also heard about some of the
issues we confront daily as the result of heightened homeland security measures
and immigration policies. We hope we
will be included in discussions on future policies in terms of their impact on
our communities, and look forward to working with you, Senator Cornyn, on the
much needed reforms to the immigration system. We cannot stress enough how
important it is that you be cognizant of historical, cultural and family
connections on both sides of the Rio Bravo as you deliberate these issues.
As noted earlier, we
are grateful for the hard work the Transportation Commission and our local
legislative delegation has done this session. Commissioner Johnson, we are
ready to help with efforts to educate our region about the importance of
passing Proposition 14. And, Chairman Inhofe and Senator Cornyn, we are here to
assist Congress with reauthorization of TEA-21 and to work with the Commission
at the state level on this legislation, Trans Texas and their other plans.
Again, I want to thank
you for being here today and for everything you do for our communities.