On February 19, 2016, Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) and the General Services Administration (GSA) announced long-awaited improvements worth $26.8 million to the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge, also known as the Convent Avenue Port of Entry or International Bridge 1. International Bridge 1 is 70 years old and is the oldest of Laredo’s four ports. Together with previously announced upgrades to International Bridge 2, Congressman Cuellar has made $88.8 million worth of funds available for upgrades. Using estimates from the U.S. Department of Commerce, the GSA has predicted that improvements to the two bridges could create around 1,440 jobs.
The bridge’s last renovation was more than 25 years ago. The bridge, which had approximately 3.5 million pedestrian crossings and 1.3 million car crossings in 2014, suffers from long wait times and accessibility for visitors with disabilities or other physical impairments.
The work at the bridge will:
• Improve the efficiency of the port by reconfiguring the main car inspection lanes
• Add a dedicated bicycle inspection lane
• Increase the number of permanent pedestrian processing lanes from four to 14
• Reconfigure the inside of the historic Administration building
• Demolish the existing secondary inspection canopy for cars and replace it with a new one
• Add cameras to monitor processing
All of these improvements are expected to reduce peak car wait times from 33 to 15 minutes and peak pedestrian wait times from 49 to 21 minutes.
Read more here: http://cuellar.house.gov/news/documen...
Animation video courtesy of GSA.
