| | |  Travel & Outdoors 
US, Mexico Open First New Border Crossing in 10 Years
 Agence France-Presse
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January 12, 2010
| | A view of the border crossing between Reynosa, Mexico and Hidalgo, Texas, in 2008. The United States and Mexico inaugurated the first new border crossing between the two countries in a decade with a bridge linking the Texas town of McAllen with Mexico's Reynosa. (AFP/Jose Cabezas) | |
Washington – The United States and Mexico inaugurated the first new border crossing between the two countries in a decade, in a bid to smooth trade and goods transport between the neighbors.
The Anzalduas bridge inaugurated Monday connects the Texas town of McAllen with Mexico's Reynosa.
It cost 100 million dollars and was built entirely with recycled construction materials, according to a statement by the mayor's office in McAllen.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon flew in for Monday's dedication ceremony for the 3.2-mile (five-kilometer) span, along with US Trade Representative Ron Kirk.
"This bridge is more than a link between Mexico and America, between north and south. It is also a potent symbol of our connectiveness," the San Antonio News quoted Kirk as saying.
"You all knew that a new crossing would bring benefits to this entire region, and those benefits begin today."
The bridge, which strengthens ties between the Rio Grande valley and Monterrey, a major Mexican industrial hub, was about 17 years in the making and had an informal opening on December 15.
The US-Mexico border is the busiest in the world, with approximately 350 million crossings per year. Daily two-way trade amounts to about one billion dollars, according to the US Department of Commerce.
The bridge opening comes at a time when drug cartel violence in northern Mexico has swelled to an all-time high and raised tensions between the nations as they struggle to find ways to stem the series of brutal attacks that leave thousands dead each year, mainly in Mexico. |
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