Building The Borderplex

In the last 4 years, the New Mexico Borderplex has experienced high growth due in part to established logistics parks with rail spurs located in and around Santa Teresa, Interstate 10 (connecting the east and west coasts), increased water and road infrastructure investments and a moderate climate averaging 340 days of sunshine and low humidity. Delays due to inclement weather are rare. New Mexico has 3 ports of entry into Mexico, all overseen by the New Mexico Border Authority with varying degrees of service: Santa Teresa, Columbus, and Antelope Wells. Santa Teresa and Columbus serve commercial traffic.

Expanding Ports of Entry

With Santa Teresa’s recently expanded port of entry with shorter wait times than neighboring border states, New Mexico is becoming the ideal place for direct access to the ports of Houston and Long Beach, or locations deep into Mexico via rail or truck. Interstate 10 connects with Interstate 25 in Las Cruces, a direct route to the Canadian border. Union Pacific recently completed construction on its $400 million full-service intermodal facility on its Sunset Route between El Paso and Los Angeles. Union Pacific provides service between 19 major Mexico markets and 47 in the United States and Canada.

Santa Teresa Overweight Cargo Zone

In 2011, New Mexico created a 6 mile overweight cargo zone around the Santa Teresa and Columbus ports-of-entry. The zone allows trucks entering New Mexico from Mexico to carry up to 96,000 lbs of cargo even if they have a reducible load. The permit is $250 annually and is applied to a single truck, giving companies the flexibility to pay for only the trucks that will travel in the zone rather than paying for their entire fleet.  In the 2015 legislative session the zone was doubled in size to a 12-mile radius.