La Entrada al Pacifico: Viability and Potential Impacts on the Odessa-Midland, Texas Area and Other Small Communities

The La Entrada al Pacifico (LEAP) corridor has been designated between Chihuahua City, Chihuahua, Mexico and the Odessa-Midland area by governments in the United States and Mexico. Ultimately, the corridor will extend from the Port of Topolobampo in Mexico to the Ports to Plains Corridor near Lamesa, Texas. While the LEAP corridor primarily follows existing highways, many roadway improvements will be necessary on specific segments. The LEAP corridor passes through several communities in Southwest Texas, including Marfa, Alpine, McCamey, and Crane, before it enters the Odessa-Midland metropolitan area. This paper discusses the potential impacts and specific issues in these communities, such as Alpine, where there is a strong community sentiment to maintain a small-town atmosphere attractive to tourism that is not interrupted by truck traffic through the downtown area. Some of these impacts include reliever routes that will need to be considered for the communities and the various perspectives of community leaders regarding additional truck traffic in or near their cities. In some cases there are somewhat obvious areas where reliever routes can be built, while in others there are topographical and other concerns to consider. This paper also provides the results of a study performed to analyze the viability of some truck traffic crossing the international border at Presidio, Texas-Ojinaga, Mexico as opposed to continuing to cross at El Paso, Texas-Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Based on interviews with manufacturers and transportation companies in the Chihuahua City area, the project team determined that it would be viable for some traffic to begin using the LEAP corridor at some point in the future. This determination is based in part upon the feasibility of driving between Chihuahua City and Odessa-Midland in one day. This determination is contingent upon several issues, including infrastructure being developed at the Presidio-Ojinaga border crossing, and the simplicity of Mexican trucks crossing the international border and traveling considerable distances within the United States.

• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Frawley, William E
• Conference:
  • 10th National Conference on Transportation Planning for Small and Medium-Sized Communities
  • Location: Nashville Tennessee, United States
  • Date: 2006-9-13 to 2006-9-15
• Publication Date: 2006

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Maps; Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: 12p
• Monograph Title: Tools of the Trade: 10th National Conference on Transportation Planning for Small and Medium-Sized Communities

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Border regions; Bypasses; Impacts; Infrastructure; Small towns; Transportation corridors; Truck traffic
• Geographic Terms: Midland (Texas); Odessa (Texas); Texas-Mexico Border region
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Security and Emergencies; Terminals and Facilities; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01044639
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Mar 28 2007 1:41PM