El Paso County is conducting a study to figure out how to draw more traffic through an existing, but underused international border crossing.
The Marcelino Serna Port of Entry in Tornillo, also known as the Tornillo-Guadalupe International Bridge, completed in 2016 for $133 million, was anticipated to generate about $20 million in revenue annually for the county through tolls, but that has not materialized. The county does not impose tolls since crossings are minimal. Factors such as connecting roadways and other infrastructure taking longer to complete on the Mexican side than anticipated led, in part, to the lackluster usage of the crossing. The bridge replaced the Fabens-Caseta Port of Entry completed in 1938.
The county is developing an $1.4 million study to figure out how to increase commercial traffic. The El Paso County Commissioners Court first approved the study in September 2024, and recently approved amending the study’s scope to expand an international marketing outreach program to visit with strategic industries in Mexico to figure out what is needed to draw that traffic. About $1.1 million comes from American Rescue Act Plan funds and about $300,000 from the county’s general fund.
“We’re not only trying to divert traffic here regionally, we’re trying to generate an awareness campaign that really could divert traffic from the interior (of Mexico) into this region,” said Roberto Ransom, El Paso County director of economic development.
The port sits on 117-acres of land in the far edge of East El Paso County and has three travel lanes in each direction, with one lane designated for commercial traffic and the other two for passenger vehicles. It’s 1,274 feet long and has pedestrian sidewalks in both directions. It is one of six international crossings in the region along with the Bridge of the Americas, or BOTA, Paso del Norte, Stanton-Lerdo, Ysleta-Zaragoza and Santa Teresa Port of Entry.
The Tornillo port of entry recorded about 21,000 truck crossings in 2024 – a figure that dwarfs the nearly 700,000 crossings at the Ysleta-Zaragosa bridge, about 134,000 at the Bridge of the Americas and about 170,000 at the Santa Teresa crossing, a report by the El Paso Metropolitan Planning Organization shows.
Part of the study will map the origins of various cargo, destinations, frequency, distance, fuel usage and the time it takes to cross other ports for the county to understand how the Tornillo-Guadalupe bridge can fill in any gaps or niche markets while offering an alternative to other crossings.
The Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority will develop the components of the study and hire consultants to conduct it for the county, said Raymond Telles, CRRMA executive director.
The CRRMA oversees road and transportation projects with and for local governments and has partnered with the county for several projects.
“We’re looking to figure out what are the things that would help draw users to the Tornillo port of entry. Is it that they have a lack of facilities? Is it too far? Is it XYZ? What are the causes for that (the port not being seen as a go-to crossing) In addition to that, there’s a component for outreach to make sure everybody knows that Tornillo is a viable option for everybody,” Telles said.
The county had renewed hope in finding ways to increase use of the bridge after commercial traffic officially resumed in 2023.
Commercial traffic was temporarily suspended in 2017 due to limited traffic, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, but resumed in June 2023 after the completion of the Samalayuca toll road in Mexico. The new highway provided the needed infrastructure to handle commercial traffic and now serves as a route for cars and trucks traveling from northern Chihuahua directly to the Marcelino Serna port. It also bypasses traffic in the Juárez area.
“When I was elected in 2020 there was really hardly any infrastructure on the Mexican side. There was a road, but it wasn’t really built to handle heavy commercial traffic,” said County Commissioner Illiana Holguin, whose precinct encompasses the crossing. “When it was built over 10 years ago now, I mean, it was really meant to play an important part in our overall port of entry system for the region, but also to serve as a major economic engine.”
A boost in traffic at Tornillo following Greg Abbott’s 2022 move to have all commercial trucks crossing into the United States inspected by the Department of Public Safety that caused a massive delay in border crossings also proved that the underused port could take on more capacity.
“At one point a lot of the traffic was getting re-diverted to Tornillo, and at one point we were processing like 700 commercial vehicles a day, and we have the capacity to go all the way up to 1,000 – so we know that Tornillo has the capacity,” Holguin said. “It’s just really a matter of educating the industry to make sure that they understand that this is a viable option for them.”
“They have new technology, very good signage, they have very good security,” Ransom said of the Mexican infrastructure.
Part of what the study wants to accomplish with the marketing aspect is to dispel any misconceptions that the Tornillo port of entry does not have the capacity or security for commercial drivers and their cargo.
“A lot of people still think safety is an issue from way back when before the large road was built (in Mexico) that’s there (now). There was no lighting, there was no security – nothing,” Holguin said.
Holguin said she’s hoping the study and outreach will help inform commercial truck crossers that the Tornillo bridge is an alternative if commercial traffic is banned at BOTA after it undergoes reconstruction.
In May, the General Services Administration said that the BOTA modernization – an effort to improve the port built in 1967 – will move forward after it was paused by President Donald Trump’s administration in March. GSA plans to ban commercial trucks from crossing BOTA after the renovation and reconstruction is complete. Roughly 700 diesel big-rigs cross to and from Mexico every day. Construction is expected to begin in 2027 with substantial completion by 2030, according to a May GSA news release.
“If the improvements go forward, and BOTA undergoes construction and renovation, those commercial trucks are going to need to find an alternate route, and so we just want to make sure that they know that Tornillo could be an option for them,” Holguin said.
The study is anticipated to be completed by November 2026.
The post El Paso County exploring strategies to boost Tornillo port of entry traffic after years of lackluster usage appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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