Plans for trade corridor concern Texas towns

IIRC, the railroad through the mountains, called the Chihuahua al Pacifico Railroad, climbs 8,000 feet from near sea level to its highest point in the Sierra Madre mountains. The Web site, http://www.mexicoscoppercanyon.com, gives a good description of the railroad. It was quite an engineering feat that was not completed until 1961, after several attempts, both private and public, dating back as far as 1880. While the surrounding areas in Sinaloa and Sonora are major producers of fruit, vegetables, grain, and cotton, most of it is shipped into California, Arizona, or the major Mexican cities. At present, the railroad largely serves as a tourist attraction because of the spectacular scenery. The most rugged stretch of the Chihuahua al Pacifico takes 12 hours to traverse. The Pacific terminal of the railroad, Los Mochis, and the nearby port of Topolobampo, do not presently have the infrastructure for major port activities as do other Mexican or U.S. ports.

Upgrading the port facilities, building an Interstate standard highway, and improving the railroad connection are all huge investments that would run into the tens of billions. With competition from existing infrastructure, it is hard to imagine this being accomplished by the private sector, and the public sector lacks the resources.

It looks like the Mexicans built a "Super 2" roadway through flatter country to replace an older road that probably had been an Indian trail. If the pictures are characteristic of the new highway, it is of the same quality as U.S. 67, the 2 lane highway that connects Presidio, Texas, the border town adjacent to Ojinaga, with I-10 at Fort Stockton, and, via U.S. 385, with I-20 at Odessa and I-27 at Lubbock. (The highway from Odessa to Lubbock is a 4 lane divided highway, but not controlled access.)

The Ojinaga-Chihuahua City highway runs through relatively flat country, and upgrading the "Super 2" to an Interstate standard highway would not be too difficult. However, building the needed highway tunnels through the Sierra Madre mountains would be extremely costly. The Eisenhower tunnels on I-70 west of Denver, 1.6 miles long, cost over $300 million in 1960s - early 1970s dollars, and would probably require about $2 billion today. Proposed improvements to I-70 in the vicinity of Vail, Colorado, to relieve chronic congestion, run anywhere from $2.5 to over $8 billion, depending on whether passenger rail service is included.

It is hard to see how either the public or private sectors, or a combination of the two, would construct the necessary highway and rail service to create a major freight connection between the Pacific coast of Mexico and Texas.

Thanks for the info. Like you say it maybe too expensive to ever construct. But I know that some are trying to find ways to bring the Pacific imports via other ports besides CA. Walmart has now set up operations via the Port of Houston to bring in about 28% of their container imports via the Panama Canal. I think the Chinese are looking for other venues as well..... It appears the far east is going to be a major supplier of goods to this hemisphere so no telling the scope it will take in the long run.

Take care

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