[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 4, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E3-E4]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  CAMINO REAL CORRIDOR AND COMMISSION

                                 ______


                         HON. RONALD D. COLEMAN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 4, 1995
  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to re-introduce legislation to 
create the Camino Real Corridor and Commission. I introduced this bill 
during the previous session, and I continue to believe that the passage 
of this legislation is indispensable to the goals of facilitating 
national trade and growth in the coming years.
  While the passage of the North American Free-Trade Agreement will no 
doubt affect the entire Nation, perhaps no area will witness greater 
changes than the Southwestern region along the Mexican border. Not only 
will the area continue to experience the benefits of increasing 
international economic integration, but it will also be profoundly 
impacted by the large influx of traffic that is the necessary byproduct 
of expanding trade. The district which I represent, El Paso, TX, has an 
infrastructure system that will be among the hardest hit by the 
increasing levels of commerce between the United States and Mexico.
  El Paso is one of the most important border crossings in the world. 
Over $12 billion in trade passes over the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez, 
Chihuahua border each year; 18 percent of United States exports to and 
25 percent of United States imports from Mexico pass through this 
trans-border metropolitan region. Furthermore, it is the busiest point 
of entry for commercial trucks. In light of the fact that the trade 
volume transported through this port of entry is projected to nearly 
double by the year 2000, and that the population of the El Paso area is 
one of the fastest-growing in the Nation, the highways and border 
infrastructure of this area warrant our particular attention.
  But we must bear in mind that El Paso is only one point on a trade 
route that extends from the Mexican State of Chihuahua into the 
interior portion of the United States. A natural trade corridor is 
emerging from the Mexican border State of Chihuahua to Denver through 
El Paso and New Mexico. The Mexican Government has already demonstrated 
its commitment to the region, with the construction of a new highway 
system that extends to the State of Chihuahua through several of 
Mexico's largest cities in the industrialized north--a highway over 600 
miles long. On the U.S. side, the emerging corridor bears great 
resemblance to the highway systems designated by section 1105c of the 
1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act as ``corridors of 
national significance''. Like those highway systems, the highway system 
from El Paso to Denver has undergone a great increase in use, 
particularly in the form of commercial traffic, since the designation 
of the Federal Interstate System. This trend will be amplified in the 
next decade, as trade and population growth continue to soar in the 
region.
  Therefore, today I am re-introducing legislation to create the Camino 
Real Corridor. As I noted previously, the historical reference herein 
recognizes the importance of this trade route to the development of the 
Southwest. The Camino Real de la Tierra Adentro, the Royal Highway of 
the Interior Lands, was the route traveled by people from Mexico City 
to Santa Fe. The modern corridor would be achieved through the 
enhancement of the trade
 route that today connects El Paso to Albuquerque to Denver, and of the 
border arterials that feed into this route. The improvements in 
infrastructure along this route would include the use of intelligence 
vehicle highway systems where appropriate. Thus, information, 
communications, and control technologies will be applied to improve the 
efficiency of this surface transportation system. These changes would 
guarantee that the roads which carry goods between Mexico and the 
interior portions of the United States could handle the heavy flow of 
traffic that is anticipated in the upcoming decades. Further, Denver is 
at the crossroads to the West and Midwest, and positioned to develop 
north to Canada.

  Unfortunately, good roads alone cannot guarantee the efficient cross-
border passage of people, goods, and capital. Indeed, many of the 
current delays in United States-Mexico trade occur at the border. So to 
ensure the smooth operation of the corridor system, I have also 
proposed the creation of the Camino Real Corridor Commission. This 
Commission would report to the Secretary of Transportation, and would 
be responsible for making recommendations to maximize effective 
utilization of the highways and border 
[[Page E4]] crossings of the corridor. It would also ensure the 
development of more efficient trade routes. One year after its 
formation, this Commission would make recommendations to the Secretary 
of Transportation indicating the most desirable routes for East-West 
expansion of the corridor, and for possible expansion of the corridor 
to the Canadian border.
  We should not wait until our borders and our trade routes are 
completely overwhelmed to take decisive action. Rather, our 
infrastructure and our border enforcement agencies should keep pace 
with growing trade levels, and with the realities of increasing 
international interdependence.
  The Camino Real Corridor is clearly the best place to start, but it 
need not be an end point. This project ought to serve as a model for 
future initiatives in other major border cities. It will also serve as 
a starting point for an important highway network that will connect 
Mexico with the interior United States, and possibly with Canada.
  I recognize that we are operating in a political climate where it is 
more popular to criticize than to create, and much easier to 
deconstruct than to construct. But it is important to recognize that 
one of the fundamental roles of the Federal Government has always been 
the funding and oversight of interstate projects that are central to 
national growth and prosperity. The creation of the Camino Real 
Corridor is such a project, and consequently, it deserves support.


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