NAFTA note: Texas county tabs HNTB to design $22 million rail project involving UP, TFM facilities

Cameron County (Texas) recently selected HNTB Corp. to lead the fast-track design of a project involving Union Pacific Railroad rail facilities in Texas and TFM S.A. de C.V. facilities across the U.S.-Mexican border in Matamoros, Mexico.

The Cameron County West Railroad Relocation Project involves about $22 million in construction work, including seven miles of relocation railway, final design of a new 2,300-foot rail bridge over the Rio Grande River, hydraulic river models and a 1.5-mile arterial roadway.

Officials in HNTB's San Antonio and Houston offices expect to complete design by early 2005, and then provide construction administration services for the project through completion in late 2005.

"Rail traffic passes through the core of both communities and endangers residents with more than 175 at-grade crossings and the transport of hazardous and industrial cargo through residential areas," said HNTB project director Lamberto "Bobby" Ballí in a prepared statement. "The county and city commission feel this is the largest and most important project the area has ever undertaken."