El Paso City Council discusses possible traffic issues at ports of entry

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Before El Paso City Council voted unanimously to send a letter of support to the U.S. General Services Administration's Environmental Impact Statement at the Bridge of the Americas, they showed concerns about the possible increase in traffic at other El Paso Ports of Entry.

City Representative District 7 Henry Rivera, who represents the area where the Ysleta-Zaragoza Port of Entry is, asked what solutions they will have if trucks end up moving their imports and exports to that side of town.

During Tuesday's session, the city's Director of International Bridges, Roberto Tinajero, mentioned that commercial traffic could be doubling up at Zaragoza if semi-trucks are removed from BOTA.

"We do have an industrial park area that's growing, but as I mentioned, the roads over there can't handle the semi-trucks coming down Zaragoza because the only point of travel is the border highway," said Rep. Rivera.

According to Director Tinajero, around 2,000 commercial vehicles cross to Juárez through BOTA daily; those could be moving to Zaragoza.

Between 500 to 700 semi-trucks cross to El Pasp through BOTA, director Tinajero mentioned this would not be as much of an issue because they can cross through Ysleta, Santa Teresa, or even Tornillo.

El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser also mentioned, that moving more or all commercial traffic to Santa Teresa could be an issue too, due to the Artcraft Road's current reconstruction which is going to last about three years, just as the modernization of BOTA.

There could be a rise in traffic along I-10 if more trucks are moving on the West side of town along Artcraft.

ABC-7 spoke with Director Tinajero and will have more updates in later newscasts.