El Paso City Council discusses supporting removing commercial traffic at BOTA

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso City representatives and El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser are discussing alternative 4 of the U.S. General Services Administration's ideas to remove commercial traffic at the Bridge of the Americas.

U.S. GSA started a 45-day period for public input to learn which one of the alternatives the community prefers for the $650 million modernization project.

On Monday, El Paso County Commissioners voted to support the U.S. GSA's alternative to remove semi-trucks from the Chamizal neighborhood.

Item 31 of today's City Council agenda was submitted by City Representative District 2, Josh Acevedo.

Some of the discussions so far have been that the Ysleta-Zaragoza Port of Entry might get the double of semi-trucks that are currently crossing daily.

Some city representatives have supported the idea of not having commercial trucks at the Bridge of the Americas because of the air and pollution impacts in that area.

U.S. GSA started with six alternatives and then they narrowed them to only three, here are the alternatives:

• 1A - Flexible future with commercial traffic and potential conversion to non-commercial only
• 4 - removes commercial traffic
• No action

This 45-day period ends on November 4, 2024.