Arizona's Cross-Border Initiative Gets an $8.9 Million Grant

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Arizona’s governor has put $8.9 million into helping the modernizing of the port of entry in Douglas, where a new advanced port is currently being built to improve the state’s trade with Mexico. Past renovations have proved insufficient as the port was built nearly 90 years ago, and unable to handle the high volume of cross-border trade (reportedly valued at $5 billion in annual imports/exports in 2021).

arizona's cross-border initiative gets an $8.9 million grant logos logistics

Traffic from Mexico is moving through the Raul H. Castro land port located in Douglas, which amounts to more than 28,700 trucks, 1.2 million cars, 570,000 pedestrians, and more than 2.5 million people in constant operation.

“One of my top priorities while in office has been to advance Arizona’s relationship with our neighbor Mexico. A modernized port in Douglas will allow for increased trade, tourism, transportation, and broadband, opening new pathways for economic collaboration. And beyond business, many people in Arizona have family ties in Mexico that go back generations” – Gov. Doug Ducey said on Dec. 15.

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State and federal officials are working on a two-port solution in Douglas to handle the cast amount of pedestrians, commuters, visitors and goods traveling back and forth – which has proved too busy for the current port status. The land port will be designated for noncommercial traffic across all aspects of transportation.

The city of Douglas will relocate commercial truck traffic from downtown to the new commercial port on 80 acres of land that will be donated to the federal government. The General Services Administration, which led a study in 2019 for the entire project, has allocated federal infrastructure funding for $216 million to design and construct the new port, and $184 million to modernize the existing Raul H. Castro port to smoothen transport between Mexico and Arizona.

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The new dedicated commercial land port in Douglas will include a commercial inspection near the administrative building as well as multiple secondary vehicle inspection docks, and a U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration facility.

Now that these initiatives are underway, truckers can expect a smoother-transition and journey with ease from one point of entry (port) to the next.