HNTB to study rail bypass, border crossing in southern New Mexico

The New Mexico Border Authority recently contracted HNTB Corp. to perform a comprehensive feasibility study on a new rail bypass and international rail border crossing near the Santa Teresa, N.M., port of entry into Mexico.

Expected to take 12 months to complete, the study will guide the state of New Mexico and its associates in developing a new bypass and border crossing. The rail bypass and crossing would build on the economic success the authority, city of Santa Teresa and Doña Ana County have experienced with the recent opening of Union Pacific Railroad’s Strauss Yard, according to an HNTB press release.

HNTB plans to use multiple sub-consultants in New Mexico to provide technical expertise and regional insight for the study. A public outreach program will help foster extensive coordination between U.S. and Mexican governmental agencies; the states of New Mexico, Texas and Chihuahua, Mexico; local stakeholders; and UP, BNSF Railway Co. and Ferrocarril Mexicana S.A. de C.V.

HNTB previously led the planning, environmental clearance, presidential permitting, funding, design and construction of the Brownsville-Matamoros West Rail Bypass port of entry in south Texas, the state's first international rail crossing between the United States and Mexico in 100 years.