The streets of Laredo are anything but calm these days.

The reason: Businesses and city officials are hopping mad because they say lengthy inspections of Mexican trucks at two bridges are creating delays and congestion, thereby hurting international trade, local retail business and the trucking industry.

The situation is getting so touchy that U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) will visit Laredo this month to discuss the problem with local officials.

Laredo Mayor Betty Flores told Land Line Magazine, "We don't want to make light of the need for additional security." However, the decision to place inspection stations at two Laredo bridges, instead of further away from town, has created a "huge economic drain on the city."

Eighty percent of U.S.-Mexico traffic comes through Texas, and about one-third comes through Laredo on its way along I-35 toward San Antonio and beyond, to Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Detroit and Toronto.

However, the long-term worry is that Mexican trucks may eventually pass by Laredo, which could lead to the demise of trucking-related businesses there and at eight other Texas border towns. Flores said she's attended several conferences in Texas on that very subject.

"I can tell you that until we have no more drugs coming into the United States from Mexico, the trucks will always have to stop and be inspected," Flores said. "We won't see that change in my lifetime. In the long run, industry will dictate what happens, not the government."

For the past year, Flores has opposed building truck-inspection stations alongside the city's main international bridges leading to downtown, preferring a more remote location. She has sued the federal government and TxDOT to move inspection activity away from bridge areas.

"If this policy decision (to inspect at the bridges) had been made a long time ago, the business community would have been prepared," she said. "We want our suit to be litigated."
--By Dick Larsen, senior editor