I-27 Committee tours Port of Entry bridge

On Tuesday, April 19, members of the Interstate 27 Advisory Committee participated in a tour of the World Trade Bridge Port-of-entry in Laredo. Laredo is the busiest land port in North America handling nearly $250 billion in trade annually. An average of 8,000 trucks a day cross the border in Laredo.

The I-27 Advisory Committee was created by Texas Senate Bill 1474. The Committee, as required by the Senate Bill, includes 10 County Representatives, seven City Representatives, three Economic Development Representatives, one Agriculture representative, one Energy Representative, and one International Trade Representative.

The Committee will meet at least two times a year; however, the Committee was requesting additional meetings early in the process. S.B. 1474 states that the Committee was established to provide the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) with information on concerns and interests along the Ports-to Plains Corridor; and to advise the TXDOT on transportation improvements impacting the Ports-to-plains Corridor.

On March 10, the Senate passed an omnibus FY22 funding bill that included in the section funding the US Department of Transportation language designating Texas and New Mexico portions of the Ports-to-plains Corridor as a future interstate. This step was possible due to the leadership of Rep. Cuellar (D-laredo) and Rep. Arrington (R-lubbock), with the support of Sen. Heinrich (D-NM) and Sen. Lujan (D-NM), as well as Senators Cornyn and Cruz from Texas.

The funding package was signed into law by the President on March 14. This was the culmination of years of work by the Ports-to-plains team and the Texas and New Mexico congressional delegations and is an enormous step towards our ultimate goal of a funded and constructed interstate.

Since then, the Ports-to-plains governmental relations team has begun internal discussions with local and state elected and transportation department officials about potential congressionally directed spending requests for FY2023.

The Ports-to-plains strategy for FY23 is to seek planning money for the Texas portion of the future interstate and specific project funding for projects in the state plan that will make improvements along the corridor necessary for it to eventually meet interstate standards. Additionally, Ports-to-plains may seek FY23 funding for specific projects in other states along the corridor, including Colorado.

Because community project requests - formerly known as “earmarks” - are still somewhat controversial, as of today it is uncertain which member of the Texas delegation in the House will submit these requests for Ports-to-plains, and both Texas Senators have unfortunately already announced they will not be submitting or supporting community funding projects for Texas. This puts Texas at a significant disadvantage in seeking federal funding, and will present an obstacle to legislators working on the project as they work to secure federal planning and project funding for the new future interstate.

Additionally, the committee will begin outreach to the other states in the corridor to develop support for their inclusion as part of the future interstate, although that will in all likelihood be something for the 118th Congress beginning next year.