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Cameron County Administrator Pete Sepulveda Jr., during a presentation before the county commissioners court on Tuesday, said international bridge traffic is down in the Rio Grande Valley and between the Valley and El Paso, though the county’s bridges in Brownsville fared better than some.

Compared to the third quarter of 2024, the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, according to unaudited numbers, Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville actually saw a 3% increase in private passenger vehicles, though “all other classifications remained flat,” he said.

“At Los Indios (international bridge) the passenger vehicles decreased by 7%,” Sepulveda said. “However, the commercial vehicles increased by 64%, and the transmigrantes were up by 13%. At Veterans (International) Bridge (in Brownsville), passenger vehicles decreased by 3% and commercial vehicles by 14%.”

Transmigrante refers to the transport of used vehicles and other cargo from the United States through Mexico for sale in Central America. Speaking with The Brownsville Herald after the commissioners meeting, Sepulveda attributed the big increase at Los Indios to new commercial traffic that formerly crossed at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge.

“They found a quicker route into Mexico, so I think we’re benefiting from that,” he said. “And a lot of it is traffic that is coming from the Port of Harlingen and going directly to the (Los Indios) Free Trade Bridge on FM 509.”

The decrease in commercial and passenger traffic at other bridges — especially farther west — is due to a combination of factors, Sepulveda said.

“With the immigration issues there are times (Customs and Border Protection) has to shut down the bridge just as a precautionary measure,” he said. “And then all the rumors with the tariffs and stuff. It’s not just one thing. It’s multiple things. I think we’ve been lucky that we haven’t seen the drop that other bridges have seen.

“The mayor of McAllen about a month or so ago said that their crossings were down 25%. That would be a huge hit. I imagine that it impacted more because they get a lot of the traffic from Monterrey, so if the people from Monterrey stop coming across it’s going to have a huge impact.”

Sepulveda said he’s heard from bridge owners in border communities such as Laredo, Eagle Pass and Del Rio that their bridge traffic has fallen by more than 30%. Cameron County is in better shape, but there’s still concern that the trend of falling bridge crossings/revenues will continue. The county’s bridge system is still in the black so far, about $300,000 within budget and three months left in the fiscal year, he said.

“Hopefully we can end the year and at least break even,” Sepulveda said. ‘I’ll be satisfied with that. It could have been a lot worse.”

Still, a bit more certainty and stability would be welcome, he said.

“I’m not sure that there’s much that we can do other than let our congressmen and senators in Washington know of the impact so far up to this point,” Sepulveda said.

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