Summary

“Boulevard of the Americas” — the four-blocks at Laredo’s Port of Entry leading I-35 to the Lincoln Juarez Bridge — is connected by this master plan to the down ramp and the riverfront. This project aims to celebrate the crossing and redress the historical displacement of people and business by the expansion of I-35 and the Lincoln Juarez Bridge. This master plan honors Laredo’s status as an international juncture, inspiring public confidence and commitment to the larger goals of the community. The native landscape part of the project stretches over the four blocks, designed by Able City to draw out the character and color of downtown Laredo’s natural and cultural surroundings.

The idea of the Boulevard of the Americas is to be mending: to connect the downtown again to the crossing, and the crossing to the community. What was once a desolate and emptied crossing is now being returned to the people who live by it — and it is therefore no surprise that the origin of this transformation was community-led, as the result of Laredo’s  first design charrette.