Building Bridges For More Prosperity
The United States of America shares 2000 mile border with its southern neighbor Mexico. Over the years, the USA took many steps to increase the security of the border. Though increased security checked illegal activities, one negative impact was the bottleneck it created in the transportation of legitimate goods and people. To make the situation better, q new bridge has been constructed to smoothen the flow of products and travelers alike. Anzalduas International Bridge is set to open in October 2009 and will connect Mission, Texas, a part of the larger McAllen MSA, to border community of Reynosa, Mexico.
According to Pat Townsend Jr. CEO of the Mission Economic Development Authority “Anzalduas will be the newest and one of largest border crossings in the country, and will directly increase traffic flow for industrial, retail, commercial travelers and tourists”.
There are eight international bridges connecting the Mission area, Texas to the industrial border communities of Reynosa, Matamoros and Monterrey in Mexico. These areas have a population of more than 5 million people. Monterrey is one of the prominent city in Mexico. Besides being the third largest city of Mexico, it’s also inhabited by wealthy Mexican citizens. Monterrey is just three hours drive from Mission, Texas.
The border areas of USA and Mexico are very deeply connected in terms of economy, trade, commerce and tourism. The town of Mission is a major retail market for Mexican products and good, hence it impacts the Mexican economy in a large way. According to some estimates, in 2008 Mexican disposable income accounted for more than a third of annual retail sales from retail to second homes and even banking.
Locals and experts alike concur that, this is a very unique international area and every step has to be taken to remove the barriers to the traffic across the border.
Despite recessionary economic trends all over the United States, Mission-McAllen ranked the best medium-sized city for jobs in the country by in April, 2009.
The main job growth drivers have been retail, government, education and health care sectors. The current GDP is $15.6 billion and it’s projected to increase to $16.6 billion by the end of year 2010. With Mission ‘s businesses and commerce scenarios looking very upbeat, Anzalduas Bridge will help it achieve more growth in many years to come.
Also, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has opened new exciting possibilities for international trade between USA, Mexico and Canada. Border cities like Mission, are capitalizing on this market expansion and are set to boom in recent years.
