Val Verde County bridge board meeting canceled after members fail to form quorum

Del Rio’s International Bridge Board could not take any action Tuesday after only two of its four sitting members appeared at City Hall, leaving the panel without a quorum and forcing the meeting to be postponed. The cancellation mattered because the board is the city’s public forum for bridge issues tied to the Del Rio-Ciudad Acuña crossing, including the long-debated second international bridge project.

Mayor Al Arreola, who presides over the board, and board member Frank Mendoza were the only members present. The board’s vacant fifth seat remained unfilled, underscoring how thin attendance has become on a panel that helps shape recommendations before they reach Del Rio City Council. Even with the meeting called off, several city staff members still came to City Hall, including the deputy city secretary and bridge department personnel, along with a few members of the public.

Arreola announced the cancellation shortly after the meeting was set to begin and said the next session would be held Tuesday, May 26. That delay pushed back another public step in a process that has remained unsettled for years, with residents, county leaders and city consultants still divided over where a second bridge connector should go and what it should avoid.

The project is formally known as the Acuña II-Del Rio International Bridge. City consultants have said it is intended to streamline cargo transportation, connect directly to the Ports-to-Plains Corridor and future Interstate 27, and move commercial truck traffic away from population centers in Del Rio and Ciudad Acuña. Consultant Michael Riojas said in March 2024 that the route tying the bridge site to U.S. Highway 90 was still being finalized, and he said the new bridge could reduce pollution, improve safety and eventually allow the crossing atop Amistad Dam to close.

The route has drawn sustained opposition. A public open house in June 2023 brought more than 100 people, and a civic-center meeting in October 2024 drew slightly more than 100 when consultants presented a fourth alternative route between the bridge and U.S. Highway 90. By March 2025, consultants were starting the environmental phase that would lead to a recommended connector route. More recently, the January 27, 2026 bridge board agenda still included an update on the second international bridge and a February 2026 meeting date, showing the issue was still active before Tuesday’s cancellation.

Val Verde County has repeatedly taken a different view. In February 2025, commissioners voted 3-2 to reaffirm opposition to the city’s northwest bridge plan, with County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. and Commissioner Gustavo “Gus” Flores in dissent. In March 2025, the court unanimously agreed to explore a county-wide referendum on whether residents want a second bridge and where it should be placed. Tuesday’s quorum failure delayed one more discussion in a border infrastructure dispute that continues to shape traffic, commerce and planning on both sides of the Rio Grande.