Mexican business leaders want to keep truck traffic on the Free Bridge, despite the United States General Services Administration’s decision to eliminate it.
From KVIA.com:
Business leaders in Juárez wrote a letter to U.S. authorities asking to keep commercial traffic at BOTA last weekend. They said they first gave one to CBP officials and then will continue to ask other entities on both sides of the border to push for keeping cargo once modernizations start.
Cargo at BOTA has been highly criticized due to its pollution and how it has impacted the South-Central El Paso community for years.
The reason the GSA moved to eliminate truck traffic on the BOTA was because the trucks were spewing pollution on Segundo Barrio while they were waiting to cross back into Mexico. And the reason they were taking so long to cross back into Mexico was because inspections by Mexican customs were taking too long.
Since the rhetoric to ban commercial traffic on the bridge gained prominence, there hasn’t been a lot of trucks idling on the north side of the river.
I guess Mexico thought that pollution in Segundo Barrio was the United States’ problem, but now that the U.S. is doing something about it, the Mexican business leaders are complaining.
Well, they could have done something to ameliorate the problem in the first place, when they had the chance.
Now, that truck has already left the warehouse.