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Bridge department updates: rate study nearing completion; World Trade Bridge expansion delayed for environmental review
Summary
Bridge director Asana Folsom told the Laredo Bridge Advisory Committee the toll rate study is 75% complete and that staff will present rate scenarios and related budget information at the committee’s May meeting.
Bridge director Asana Folsom updated the committee that the bridge rate study is approximately 75% complete and that staff expects to present a finalized study and budget scenarios at the May meeting. Folsom said staff and consultants are finalizing revenue and expenditure projections and assessing equipment life spans for toll systems and administrative building renovations.
Folsom said some bridge facilities and toll equipment are reaching end of life and that replacements and backups are being assessed so lanes do not go offline when equipment fails. She said the rate study will include multiple scenarios (gradual increases over several years) so the city can evaluate impacts on operations and any future debt service for expansions.
On the World Trade Bridge expansion, staff reported delays in the environmental assessment review process. City representatives said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and related federal reviews caused a backlog; staff summarized recent communications that indicate the environmental review timeline has shifted and that remaining reports (community impacts, air quality/indirect growth analysis, cumulative effects and traffic noise analysis) are under review by federal agencies. City staff estimated a 4–6 month delay for completion of the pending reviews.
Committee members raised questions about past toll revenues and how prior increases had been used. Staff said operational revenues had been used to pay for parts of the World Trade expansion studies and environmental work to date, including a $1.5 million environmental item noted in prior work. Staff asked committee members to provide a list of priority projects for incorporation into the capital improvement plan and next year’s budget.
On toll account operations, staff reported a program to require new accounts to provide a credit card on file and to move repeat offenders to auto‑replenish to reduce unpaid U‑turns. Staff said there was an outstanding insufficient‑funds total reported for March and that efforts continue to suspend accounts with repeated unpaid activity until account replenishment occurs.
