Commercial truck traffic rolling across the border from Ciudad Acuña, Mexico into Del Rio, Texas jumped 20% between July 2025 and July 2026, with more than 93,000 trucks making the crossing during that stretch. The surge pushed more than $6 billion in two-way trade through the Del Rio International Bridge, and now local and regional leaders are pointing to it as evidence for a much bigger infrastructure push along the border.
Data Presented at Border Conference
The traffic figures were presented by Texas A&M International University's Texas Center for Border Economic and Enterprise Development at the 2026 Ports-to-Plains Alliance Annual Conference, held in Del Rio, according to KTSM 9 News. The number of commercial trucks making the crossing increased by 16,000 from the previous year, the station reported. Local leaders attributed the traffic boost to the relationship between the city of Del Rio and Mexican officials in Ciudad Acuña.
Del Rio Mayor Alvaro “Al” Arreola told the station the port grew 20 percent last year and could benefit from a corridor built up behind it. Liliana Flores said Del Rio is now a gateway connecting international commerce with transportation, agriculture, manufacturing and North American markets, per the same KTSM report. Manufacturing plants in Ciudad Acuña, numbering 52, employ more than 35,000 people, according to the station's account.
A Nearly 1,000-Mile Corridor
The Ports-to-Plains Alliance is described as the future I-27 corridor, a route stretching from the Texas-Mexico border north to Canada. The corridor is designed to connect West and South Texas with Mexico and Canada and runs nearly 1,000 miles, the station's report notes. A proposal modeled at the conference calls for extending that corridor toward the Rio Grande Valley through a 113-mile extension of I-27.
That extension carries an estimated construction cost of $5.51 billion, and Regional Economic Models Inc. estimated it would take 25 years to build, the outlet reported. Backers say the project could generate $13 billion in economic output and create over 2,600 jobs, though the underlying study behind those projections was not detailed in the report.
Longer History of Corridor Planning
The Ports-to-Plains corridor isn't a new idea. A 2020 Texas Department of Transportation advisory committee summary described consistent economic growth along the corridor and discussed the status of the I-27 extension and its project development. Two years later, a March 2022 announcement from the Office of Rep. Ronny Jackson referenced the Ports-to-Plains project and I-27's extension through the Texas Panhandle, underscoring how long the corridor has been part of regional planning conversations.
Del Rio has also drawn national attention for reasons unrelated to trade. In 2021, thousands of Haitian and Venezuelan asylum-seekers crossed the Rio Grande into Del Rio and camped under the international bridge. U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Professional Responsibility investigated allegations that Border Patrol agents on horseback whipped migrants during that episode, and the office determined there was no evidence that agents struck any person with horse reins.
What Remains Unresolved
Some details around the latest push remain murky. A February 2026 newsletter from the Ports-to-Plains Alliance had described the 2026 annual conference as scheduled to be hosted jointly by Del Rio, Texas and Acuña, Coahuila on September 8-10, 2026, while the KTSM report places the event in Del Rio; the discrepancy between the two accounts has not been resolved. Whether the proposed I-27 extension has secured funding, environmental clearance or a firm construction timeline was not addressed in the available reporting, leaving the corridor's future largely dependent on how the traffic and trade numbers presented in Del Rio translate into further state and federal action.
