New improvements are officially underway at the Pharr International Bridge.

On Thursday, city officials broke ground on an expansion project that is aimed to help traffic get through faster.

Five years may seem like a long time, but Luis Bazan, director of the Pharr International Bridge, says it could have taken much longer.

"The federal government, DHS created the Donations Acceptance Program otherwise known as DAP. because the study indicated that if the port wanted to enhance or grow and build the needed infrastructure it would take upwards of 15 to 20 years to get things done because it would rely solely on federal funds," explained Bazan.

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