How Donna is moving forward with its plan to bring commercial truck traffic to its international bridge

For the past 15 years, the city of Donna has sought to expand the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge to encourage commercial truck traffic along the Texas-Mexico border. Now, under a federal program that enables the city to invest in infrastructure and then donate the property to the government, the city is one step closer to achieving that goal.

The bridge opened in 2010 to pedestrian vehicles, and each month about 63,000 cross between the U.S. and Mexico. 

In 2017, however, Donna agreed to donate land to the General Services Administration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection for its “port of the future,” which would allow commercial traffic to come in from Mexico. 

That port of the future includes new truck-scanning technology and a single port-of-entry office in Donna, where commercial customs agents from both the U.S. and Mexico would work side by side to ease congestion and reduce wait times on either side of the bridge.

“This port of the future is very different in the fact that we will be having both American and Mexican inspectors on our side [of the bridge]. That way [truck drivers] won’t have to stop in Mexico first,” Donna Mayor David Moreno said. 

That could significantly reduce wait times for trucks that often sit on the bridges between the ports of entry. 

“As the commercial truck crosses, they go through a scanner, and if there are no red flags, they can just continue going. If not, they stop and go through secondary inspection,” Moreno said. “They can be crossing nonstop. Once our bridge is finished, it’s estimated that we’ll be able to cross a little over 100 trucks per hour.” 

Donna earmarked $62 million for modernizing its port of entry in recent years. Since 2023, the bridge has been able to accept empty tractor-trailers heading back into Mexico after investing in its southbound lanes. 

The contract bid for the construction of the northbound commercial traffic lanes is expected to be released on Dec. 13 and close by mid-January. Construction of those lanes is expected to begin as early as April and be completed before the end of 2028. 

Donna voters approved the city to issue a $45 million revenue bond for commercial expansion efforts, to be repaid by bridge tolls. The city previously estimated that at least 100 trucks crossing each day could repay the debt. The city secured a $35.9 million low-interest loan from the Texas Department of Transportation through the State Infrastructure Bank, and its economic development corporation issued revenue bonds to cover the remainder of the project’s debt. 

U.S. Customs and Border Protection also granted the city $11 million to install modern truck inspection technology at the port of entry. 

“Once we pay off those loans, we’ll be able to reinvest in our community here,” Moreno said. “This is the biggest investment in the history of the city of Donna.”