Feds Sign Off on $10B Mexico-Texas Freight Transportation Project

The company behind a proposed multi-billion-dollar elevated freight transportation system between the U.S. and Mexico said last week that it the project been green-lit by federal officials.

Green Corridors, a Houston developer of what it calls “infrastructure technology,” disclosed a newly formed public-private partnership that it says would build, maintain and operate the company’s debut “Intelligent Freight Transportation System.”

Company officials said the IFTS would be an elevated 165-mile span between Monterrey — northern Mexico’s industrial hub — and the border city of Laredo, Texas. It would feature elevated guideways, autonomous shuttles and freight terminals to, in effect, separate freight traffic crossing the U.S.-Mexico border from other vehicles.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the project would cost an estimated $10 billion, but the company said that it would be paid for through “multiple” revenue sources across its business model — including fees on freight companies utilizing the route.

Proponents also said that it would ease congestion and reduce transportation costs, support improved international trade and supply chain resiliency, and improve security and safety at the border.

Green Corridors plans to break ground within the next 36 months and open the corridor for freight traffic in 2031.

“This project represents a paradigm shift in transportation with our largest trading partner,” Mitch Carlson, Green Corridors’ CEO, said in the announcement.

Laredo is the nation’s busiest port of entry for trade between the U.S. and Mexico.