Anzalduas Bridge substantially complete on U.S. side

GSA, port facilities still under construction

By Jim Brunson

The Anzalduas Bridge connecting Mission with Reynosa is substantially complete on the U.S. side. While work on the Mexican side has slowed appreciably, their part of the bridge is expected to be completed in plenty of time for the planned opening in October.

Anzalduas Bridge Project Engineer Ramon Navarro said this week that the U.S. side of the bridge structure itself is not only substantially complete, the bridge contractors are expected to be completely finished by May 4.

Crews are presently erecting fencing the full length of the bridge north of the Rio Grande, as well as taking care of the finer details such as sand blasting and putting on surface finishes. The final step will be striping of the traffic lanes.

Much work remains to be done on the U.S. GSA (General Services Administration) facilities building, the toll plazas and administration buildings on the U.S. side.

The bridge’s original planned June 2009 opening date was pushed back last year when the GSA facilities contract was issued with a February, 2010 completion date. With pressure from local leaders, the GSA facilities substantial completion date is now set for September 19, 2009 and the bridge opening is planned for October. The toll plazas and other facilities are under construction and on schedule to be operational well before the opening date.

Speedy progress on the Mexican side during the first several months of construction has slowed markedly. They are reported to now be at about 68 percent complete, according to George Ramon, Hidalgo port director.

Mexico’s contractor has yet to complete construction of the final column at the edge of the river and several sections of the Mexican structure still need the pre-stressed concrete panels and pouring of the concrete bridge deck. All of this work has been completed on the U.S. side. The Mexican contractor is also responsible to construct the common span over the river itself, joining the two structures together. This is expected to take at least two months to construct.

Local bridge officials report that when the Mexican contractor learned that the opening date was being delayed due to the GSA facilities, they slowed down their work. 

The Mexican border station inspection facility is complete and has been delivered to the federal government. Their toll plazas are substantially complete, though some work remains to be done.

When asked if the Mexican bridge structure was uneven or bumpy, George Ramon, who completed a tour of the bridge with Mexican officials on Wednesday, said they did have some corrections to do on part of their work and they are taking steps now to make corrections to smooth out certain sections of the bridge. He emphasized, however, that this was only on certain sections, and not the entire bridge span that had issues.

The U.S. side of the bridge has a pedestrian lane with a protective concrete barrier. However, due to the over three-mile length of the bridge as well as border safety concerns, pedestrian traffic will not be permitted for the foreseeable future.