TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE

BORDER TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE AND U.S. CITIES

WHEREAS, global import and export activity is playing an increasing role in expanding economic opportunity and growth in the nation’s cities; and

WHEREAS, trade with Mexico has been an increasingly important part of this economic growth, increasing by 200 percent in the last decade from $58.5 billion to over $240 billion; and

WHEREAS, 3,600,000 U.S. jobs and over $100 billion in U.S. wages are estimated to be created by and dependent on U.S.-Mexico trade activity; and

WHEREAS, the U.S.-Mexico border is the most-crossed border in the world; and

WHEREAS, the volume of cross-border traffic through U.S. cities is staggering and growing, including for example 2.8 million trucks through the largest port, Laredo, in 1999, averaging 12 trucks per minute each 12-hour work day 6 days a week, and 284,000 loaded rail cars in 1999, a 284 percent increase in five years; and

WHEREAS, most cross-border traffic is destined for or originates at U.S. factories, businesses and job sites in cities far from the border and millions of U.S. jobs and businesses all across the country depend on the efficient movement of goods and materials across the border; and

WHEREAS, the General Accounting Office in a report on commercial traffic congestion at border crossings concluded that congestion results from (1) multiple checks at the border by various federal and state agencies, (2) federal inspection agency staffing shortages at some border crossings, (3) limited use of automated management information systems for processing commercial traffic, (4) lack of land to expand port of entry operations, (5) inadequate roads leading to some port of entry operations, and (6) poor port of entry planning among U.S. inspection agencies and limited coordination between the U.S. and Mexican governments; and

WHEREAS, the burden of congestion, air pollution, road wear and tear, and public safety from border traffic and bottlenecks falls on border cities while the negative economic impact of bottlenecks and delays on trade, commerce and just-in-time delivery is felt nationwide; and

WHEREAS, in recognition of the national economic importance of an efficient border transportation system the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century created a Borders and Corridors program to help improve traffic flow and eliminate bottlenecks at border crossings; and

WHEREAS, TEA-21 envisioned a cooperative effort among mayors, state and federal agencies in improving the flow of cross-border traffic and trade; and

WHEREAS, the border cities of Laredo, Brownsville, and El Paso, the Texas Border Infrastructure Coalition representing border cities, the Border Trade Alliance representing both border cities and the private sector in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, and national trade organizations have expressed strong concern and opposition to state or federal projects that would impede the flow of cross-border traffic and create additional bottlenecks, and in particular to a State of Texas proposal to use state and TEA-21 funds to build state inspection stations at locations separate from and located apart from local and federal facilities in certain border locations, over the opposition of local mayors,

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that The U.S. Conference of Mayors calls upon the federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Transportation, to consult with, involve and respect the views and concerns of mayors of border cities in planning and funding border transportation infrastructure projects, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The U.S. Conference of Mayors calls upon the Congress to authorize and fund federal agencies and programs that will address the causes of border transportation congestion as cited in the General Accounting Office study.