Laredo, TX

Freight traffic gives Laredo a nationally consequential working role at the border. In 2025, truck freight moving through the Port of Laredo was valued at $296.2 billion, or 46.1 percent of all U.S.-Mexico truck freight. The municipal bridge system recorded nearly 2.47 million commercial crossings in fiscal 2025. Its four international road bridges have distinct roles: Gateway to the Americas serves passenger vehicles and pedestrians, Juárez-Lincoln is limited to passenger vehicles, Colombia Solidarity handles passenger and commercial traffic, and World Trade Bridge is commercial only. The result is a border city where customs work, trucking, rail, warehousing, and trade services occupy a visible part of the economy and where bridge conditions shape routine planning for travelers and carriers. That role grew from a settlement planted directly beside the river.

Tomás Sánchez de Barrera y Gallardo founded Villa de San Agustín de Laredo near the present San Agustín Plaza on May 15, 1755. Laredo served as capital of the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840, then became a United States border city after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo fixed the international boundary at the Rio Grande. The Army established Camp Crawford in 1848 and renamed it Fort McIntosh in 1850. Railways deepened the cross-border connection: a line to Corpus Christi reached Laredo in 1881, and the following year tracks from the north met the National Lines from Mexico City. Modern freight movement follows a river crossing and transportation corridor with roots far older than the present bridges.

San Agustín Plaza concentrates Laredo's early history at street level. The plaza dates to the 1767 town layout and stands beside San Agustín Cathedral. On its southwest corner, the Republic of the Rio Grande Museum presents a mid-nineteenth-century Laredo home, including domestic rooms and a ranching office. Nearby, the Villa Antigua Border Heritage Museum uses a former merchant residence for changing exhibits on regional history, culture, and industry. The historic center also helps host the Washington's Birthday Celebration. Begun as a two-day event in 1898, the celebration now runs for several weeks and includes parades, concerts, food, fireworks, and participants from both sides of the border. Its 2026 program ran from January 15 through February 28.

Higher education connects different eras and parts of the city. Laredo College began in 1947 in former Fort McIntosh buildings; its downtown campus still occupies the 200-acre military site, while its South Campus concentrates health sciences, automotive technology, and protective-services training. At the city's northeast edge, Texas A&M International University grew from an upper-level center established in 1970 into a four-year university on a 300-acre campus. TAMIU reported its largest enrollment in 2025, with over 9,000 students. These campuses distribute education across three distinct parts of the city. One reuses former Army buildings beside the Rio Grande, another serves South Laredo with technical and health programs, and TAMIU sits across town from the historic plaza and commercial bridges.