Jeff Bingaman United States Senator from New Mexico

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall today announced the federal government is releasing $2.39 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to begin planning and design associated with the rebuilding the Columbus Port of Entry.

"Commercial and commuter traffic between Columbus and Palomas has increased over the past couple of year and upgrades to the Columbus Port of Entry are needed to accommodate this growth," Bingaman said.  "This funding is the first step in helping rebuild the port of entry to help it better facilitate trade and traffic that crosses the border every day."

"Providing funding to rebuild the Columbus Port of Entry is integral to maintaining smooth and controlled traffic through this increasingly busy border crossing," said Udall, who toured the port in April.  "This will create jobs in southern New Mexico as well as provide communities with efficient ways of safely crossing the border."