The dock area is expanding too, planning to add space for 60 more trucks, increasing the cold storage inspections space by 1,000 to 3,000 square feet. With the new space comes a need for more personnel; fortunately, a new program with the City of Pharr will allow the municipality to invest in more overtime pay for U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers during peak traffic hours and holidays, so they’re able to streamline the arrival of commodities and increase the flow of vehicles through the port.
New Training Facility and Lab
Perhaps the bigger news is construction of a state-of-the-art agricultural training facility and laboratory for entomologists. Bazan says the new high-tech facility will have all the “bells, whistles, and latest gadgets.”
The hiring of the bridge’s first entomologist back in 2014 was a monumental step. Being able to conduct inspections and routine testing on-site, instead of having to ship items elsewhere for analysis, not only prolonged valuable shelf life for perishables but significantly reduced truck downtime during the clearance and border crossing process.
With newly approved overtime funding for the facility’s agricultural specialists, the process will become even less cumbersome for truckers carrying fresh produce. All of these improvements will assure the bridge and its inspection facilities have the capacity to both keep the cold chain intact and move the rising flow of product into the United States. This is imperative if recent predictions hold true, that imports from Mexico and other countries are expected to climb by 50 percent in the next three to five years.
Bazan explains that his top goal is to reduce border wait times to an hour or less. The bottom line, he states, is getting trucks “off the bridge system and on their way to their final destination faster.”
Improvements on the Mexico Side
There are also ongoing talks with Mexico through a bilateral and national planning group to revamp its side of the border crossing. Among the goals are to separate incoming commercial and noncommercial vehicles for faster clearance, and to modernize Mexico’s customs operations.
“At the end of the day, we just want to increase capacity, streamline, and increase commerce,” states Bazan. “But if Mexico is not investing and lining up projects with ours, then our work is meaningless and we’re not doing enough.”
For the City of Pharr it’s about augmenting the services and facilities of the port of entry—now over 20 years old—and finding ways to mutually work with Mexico to further expand the potential of the bridge. “It’s about partnership, mutual respect, and reciprocity,” explains Bazan. “If we’re not joined at the hip with our partners, feds, and locals, we’re not doing our jobs.”
