Bridge Economics, Border Security And Waiting

EL PASO, TX. – Stepped up security at the border means longer waits at El Paso bridges.

Tuesday, City Council addressed the situation, which some say is choking the local economy. Mayor John Cook is back from a visit to Washington, D.C. last week to discuss the problem with federal authorities, but he’s not sure they got the message.

“I don’t really think they understand what we were talking about. One of the comments that was made to us was, ‘Well, sometimes you’re going to have to sacrifice your local economy for the greater good of the nation,’ but they don’t understand that $43 billion dollars worth of products travel across that border every year and that’s the nation’s economy, not just El Paso’s.” said the mayor.

The city will study a plan which proposes converting two lanes at the Stanton Street Bridge. Specifically, the plan would involve reversing two lanes that travel intoJuarezand making them lanesthat enter theU.S. fromJuarez.

— Written for broadcast by Darren Hunt

— Formatted for the web by Miguel Martinez