Texas Senator Ted Cruz is pushing for legislation that would fast-track the permits for new international bridges and the expansion of existing ones.
The legislation Cruz supports can be found in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, and would allow the planning, construction, and expansion of international bridges to start before the completion of environmental impact assessments. If passed, the new bill would allow this fast-track permitting through 2030.
“It gives a longer window to either construct new bridges from South Texas to Mexico or to expand existing bridges,” Cruz said to Border Report. “Every year the United States does roughly $800 billion worth of trade and commerce with the nation of Mexico and South Texas. An enormous number of jobs depend upon robust trade and commerce going across those bridges.”
The provision has already passed the Senate. Seven bridge projects are currently underway in South Texas. The bill would help fast-track the completion of these projects. The bridge projects are as follows:
- A new pedestrian bridge in Brownsville
- A new Flor de Mayo International Bridge in Brownsville
- A new Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge in Eagle Pass
- A new 4/5 International Bridge connecting Rio Bravo
- A new “futuristic freight corridor” in Laredo
- A 10 lane expansion of the World Trade Bridge in Laredo
- Expansion of the Colombia Solidarity International Bridge in Laredo
“This extends more broadly to international bridges. It extends to international bridges, both at the Mexico border and the Canadian border. And so it takes the principle that we applied in Texas that specified the four bridges in Laredo, Eagle Pass, and Brownsville and extends it to the entirety of the border,” Cruz said.