HARLINGEN, Texas - The Port of Harlingen will try again to expand its overweight corridor route in the 89th Legislature starting in January.

As in the 88th session, the legislation will be carried by state Rep. Janie Lopez, R-San Benito.

The legislation failed to make it into law in 2023, in part because of opposition from the Texas Department of Public Safety.

But, says Port of Harlingen Executive Director Walker Smith, the legislation has merit because it would improve safety on the road.

In an exclusive interview with Ron Whitlock Reports, Smith explained that three entities in the Rio Grande Valley have the authority to issue permits for shippers to use overweight corridors in the Rio Grande Valley - Hidalgo County Regional Mobility Authority, the Port of Brownsville, and the Port of Harlingen.

He said trucks weighing no more than the Mexican Legal Weight Limit or 125,000 pounds can use an overweight corridor. On a regular corridor they can only carry 80,000 pounds.

“If we're able to connect these corridors, it provides flexibility to the transportation system and dedicates those overweight trucks to these dedicated routes,” Smith said.

“So, we’re going to be looking to extend our overweight corridor from FM 509 to the Hidalgo County-Cameron County line, a 13-mile strip.

“The legislation would essentially designate this route, FM, 509, US Highway 281, to the Hidalgo County and Cameron County lines. And at that point, the Hidalgo County RMA corridor would pick up and carry the cargo into the Pharr Bridge, or vice versa.”

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RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas – The Rio Grande Valley Partnership held its latest Commercial & Investment Tour in Rio Grande City. It was hosted by the Rio Grande City Economic Development Corporation.

One of the sponsors was McAllen-based ERO Architects. The CEO of ERO, Brian Godinez spoke about the work of ERO, plus a new company he has co-launched, South Texas Facility Partnership.

Here is an audio recording of his presentation.

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Dr. Mostafa Malki is a professor at UT-Rio Grande Valley and executive director for business development at America’s Additive Foundry Center for Advanced Manufacturing Innovation and Cyber Systems. He is also the founder of Aaron Economic Consulting.

Dr. Malki recently gave a presentation about business opportunities tied to additive manufacturing at the eBridge Center for Business & Commercialization in downtown Brownsville. During the presentation he said there is a great opportunity for the Rio Grande Valley to forge partnerships with manufacturing and technology companies from Sweden.

The Rio Grande Guardian interviewed Professor Malki at the conclusion of his presentation.

Asked to tell Guardian readers and viewers about Sweden, Malki said: “Where should I begin? There’s so much to say about Sweden.”

Malki said Sweden is a relatively small country, population wise, but area wise, is very big. It has a population of about ten million.

“It has very low population density, but it has also very big presence in terms of industries and innovation and so on. It's one of the top countries in the world in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship and so on,” Malki said.

“If we can calculate a ratio of multi-billion-dollar corporations per capita, they are probably the number one country. There are a lot of very big companies that are household names, Volvo, IKEA and Ericsson and so on that are Swedish companies. There are some that are also very big multinational companies, but they're not very well known because they do business to business type of work.”

Malki visits Sweden a lot. “It’s a very fascinating country, for a very small country to be able to be a major player in manufacturing industry and innovation,” he said.


Editor's Note: Go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service website to read the full story.

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