McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — The Texas Department of Transportation is asking South Texans for input on a traffic study of the border region as it works to expand the region’s transportation corridor to improve trade with Mexico.
TxDOT is conducting an online survey through Aug. 17 and is asking residents who live in a 130-mile area from south Laredo to Palmview, Texas, to weigh in. This includes residents in the four South Texas counties of Webb, Zapata, Starr and Hidalgo.
Questions include information regarding safety concerns, road flooding, visibility, truck traffic and lane widths for those traveling along this corridor.
The survey comes just days after Texas and Mexican officials with the Border Trade Advisory Committee met last week in Austin and announced that expanding transportation infrastructure in the Rio Grande Valley will be a top priority to bettering trade with Mexico.
The region is North America’s busiest gateway for the movement of people and goods between the United States and Mexico. In 2019, over $451 billion in goods crossed between the two countries in the Rio Grande Valley.
Survey information will be used to develop transportation needs related to safety, mobility, freight, traffic flow, hurricane evaluation and connectivity along the US 83 Regional Corridor from Interstate 2 west of Palmview in Hidalgo County to US 59/State Loop 20 in Webb County, south of Laredo, Texas, the agency said.
The agency said that the U.S. 83 corridor “is a vital element of border infrastructure connecting communities, government and industries along the international border,” and serves as “Main Street” for goods and services for many South Texas towns and communities.
Interstate 2 connects to major maritime ports and waterways in South Texas and is instrumental for the shipping of goods.
Residents can take part in the survey in English or in Spanish here.
