DONNA, Texas (Border Report) — Since 2011, the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge has connected this rural, agricultural South Texas area with northern Mexico, but only for passenger vehicles.
That changed on Wednesday morning when the first empty tractor-trailers were allowed to cross the port south into Rio Bravo, Mexico.
One of the first trucks crosses southbound from Donna, Texas, into Rio Bravo, Mexico, with an empty hull on March 27, 2024. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)
Mexican and U.S. officials cheered the expansion, which included U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and Mexican customs officials.
“I’m very excited about it. And I just want to congratulate the City of Donna and the stakeholders, the governor of Mexico, for all the coordination, all the success they’ve done to have this occur today — the opening of the outbound empty trucks,” CBP Donna Port Director Walter Weaver told Border Report.
CBP Donna Port Director Walter Weaver says allowing empty trucks southbound will decrease wait times at other area bridges, like Pharr, Texas. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)
Bridge inspectors will be able to process 200 empty trucks per day. That will boost the port traffic. Weaver says normally the port handles 2,500 vehicles crossing daily between South Texas and the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
“It should be easy for them. It’s not a big lift. They’re well prepared. The infrastructure is there. Mexico has the infrastructure on its side. it should be pretty easy for them to move trucks, commercial trucks, through the outbound in Donna,” Weaver said.
Non-intrusive inspection technology is being used to scan the trucks to ensure there isn’t anything in the cargo holds, Weaver said.
Mexican and U.S. officials celebrated the expansion of the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge on March 27, 2024, in this rural agricultural area. (Sandra Sanchez/Border Report)
The expansion also should help to reduce wait times at the nearby Pharr International Bridge — the No. 1 port for agriculture in the nation.
Now, trucks that enter in Pharr can exit in Donna, about 10 miles east.
“It’s going to bring economic development for not only the city of Donna but also for the border city of Rio Bravo,” Donna City Code Enforcer Roel Chapa told Border Report. “So it’s basically a good relationship between both cities.”
The small town of Donna, with a population under 17,000, boasts on its website that its bridge is “located in a non-congested area of the border” and has “the fastest travel to and from Mexico.”
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
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