Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Conducting Feasibility Study of U.S. Highway 57 Corridor from Eagle Pass to IH-35
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2022
In 2021, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) approved a feasibility study of U. S. Highway 57 from Eagle Pass, Texas to Interstate 35 for purposes of expanding and improving the U. S. Highway 57 Corridor. The City of Eagle Pass remains the last major city on the United States-Mexico border lacking a major four-lane interstate highway corridor to facilitate the import and export of international trade and commerce, goods, and people. The future of Eagle Pass depends on the State of Texas expanding and improving U. S. Highway 57 from Eagle Pass to IH-35 into a four-lane highway system corridor.
With the federal government of Mexico and several Mexican states, including Sinaloa, Durango, and Coahuila, currently investing heavily into the Port of Mazatlan, Sinaloa Global Trade Program to import and export world trade from the seaport on the Pacific Ocean to the United States and Canada through modern highways leading to the Texas-Mexico border, the future and growth of Eagle Pass is very bright and “like never before,” Morris Libson, Jr., President of the Eagle Pass-Maverick County Economic Development Alliance, said.
The TxDOT Feasibility Study is currently conducting a survey and focus groups among Eagle Pass Chamber of Commerce members and stakeholders to assist it in completing the study. TxDOT Feasibility Study Coordinators are Paul Truban, AICP, P.E., PTOE, Project Manager of Planning and Programming at TxDOT and Roberto Rodriguez, P.E., Laredo District Advanced Planning Supervisor.
In a letter to Eagle Pass Chamber of Commerce members, Truban requests members to please take a brief survey “so that as much feedback as possible can be obtained” regarding the feasibility study of expanding and improving U. S. Highway 57 Corridor. Truban cites the brief survey and more information regarding the study is available online at: https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/projects/studies/statewide/us57-corridor.html.
Truban encourages Eagle Pass Chamber of Commerce members to take time to take the survey and to “please share it with anyone else who is interested so the study team can collect as much feedback as possible.” Truban adds that if anyone has any questions or wishes to meet with the Project Team, to please contact him at (512)839-7256 or email him at: Paul.Truban1@txdot.gov.
According to the preliminary study, U.S.-Mexico trade has tripled between 1994 and 2019, increasing from $173 billion to $615 billion, which 68% of trade between the two countries passes through the Texas-Mexico border.
The study adds that Texas-Mexico trade value increased by 267% from $58 billion in 1994 to $213 billion in 2019.
Of the $213 billion of Texas-Mexico trade value, a total of $33.7 billion passes through the Ports of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Coahuila, including $23.3 billion in imports and $10.4 billion in exports in 2021. The top three import commodities at the Port of Eagle Pass are Auto parts, Beer, and Computer parts.
Simultaneously, the population of the U. S.-Mexico border region has grown by 70% and employment grew by 97% from 1990 to 2019.
The U. S.-Mexico border is 1,954 miles, of which the Texas-Mexico border shares 1,254 miles or 64% of the common border.
All persons, organizations, and entities in Eagle Pass and related communities of La Pryor, Batesville, and Moore, Texas, or anyone interested, are encouraged to participate in the brief survey indicated above in this article. The TxDOT Feasibility Study of U. S. Highway 57 Corridor is expected to be completed in the Fall of 2022 and presented to the communities affected and stakeholders.
