Laredo, Texas map
27.53° N · 99.48° W · Webb County · elev. about 440 ft · Central Time
Laredo is the twelfth-largest city in Texas and the busiest land freight gateway in the United States. It sits on the north bank of the Rio Grande opposite Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, and almost everything on its map — four international bridges, a rail yard, a toll road built for trucks and the southern end of I-35 — exists to move goods across the river.
Centered on the city. The river runs along the southwest side; the downtown bridges are at the bottom of San Bernardo Avenue and the truck bridge is northwest of the city.
Where Laredo is on the border
Laredo lies 150 miles south of San Antonio at the end of I-35, in the middle of the brush country between the Rio Grande Valley and the Hill Country. Eagle Pass is about 120 miles upriver to the northwest; McAllen and the Valley are about 145 miles downriver to the southeast on US-83. Webb County covers 3,375 square miles of ranch land, and Laredo holds nearly all of its people; the only other incorporated places are Rio Bravo and El Cenizo, small cities on the river south of town.
The town was laid out in 1755 by Tomás Sánchez as Villa de San Agustín de Laredo, which makes it older than nearly every other city in the state, and it was the capital of the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840. San Agustín Plaza downtown still marks the original grid, with the cathedral on one side and the Republic of the Rio Grande Museum on another. When the 1848 treaty made the river the international boundary, the residents who wanted to remain in Mexico crossed to the south bank and founded Nuevo Laredo, so the two cities have shared a street plan and a name ever since.
The four international bridges
| Crossing | Where it is | What uses it |
|---|---|---|
| Bridge I – Gateway to the Americas | Downtown, at Convent Avenue | Cars and pedestrians |
| Bridge II – Juárez–Lincoln | Downtown, at the end of I-35 | Cars and buses |
| Bridge III – Colombia Solidarity | About 20 miles northwest, in Webb County | Trucks and cars, reached by FM-1472 or SH-255 |
| Bridge IV – World Trade | Northwest of the city at Loop 20 and FM-1472 | Commercial trucks only |
The World Trade Bridge, opened in 2000, carries the heaviest truck traffic of any crossing on the U.S.–Mexico border, and the customs district that includes it handles more trade by value than any American seaport. The freight that crosses is trans-shipped in the warehouse district along Mines Road (FM-1472) north of the city, which is why that road, not downtown, is where the city's growth has gone. Kansas City Southern's international rail bridge crosses beside the downtown bridges, and the city's airport sits on the northeast side off Bob Bullock Loop.
Highways
- I-35 – north to Cotulla, Pearsall and San Antonio; the interstate's southern terminus is downtown at the international bridge.
- US-59 / I-69W – northeast to Freer, George West and on toward Houston.
- US-83 – south along the river to Zapata and Rio Grande City; north to Carrizo Springs and Eagle Pass.
- Loop 20 / Bob Bullock Loop – the eastern ring linking I-35, US-59 and the World Trade Bridge.
- FM-1472 / Mines Road – northwest from the bridges through the warehouse and trucking corridor.
- SH-255 / Camino Colombia – toll bypass from I-35 to the Colombia Solidarity Bridge, built for trucks.
Areas and neighborhoods
| Area | What's there |
|---|---|
| Downtown / San Agustín | The 1755 plaza, the cathedral, the two passenger bridges, San Bernardo Avenue |
| El Azteca | Historic riverside barrio east of downtown |
| The Heights | Early 20th-century neighborhood north of downtown along San Bernardo |
| North Laredo | Post-1990 growth outside Loop 20 along McPherson and Del Mar Boulevard |
| Mines Road corridor | Warehouses, customs brokers and truck yards along FM-1472 |
| TAMIU / Lake Casa Blanca | Texas A&M International University and the state park at the lake, east of Loop 20 |
| Rio Bravo & El Cenizo | Separate small cities on the river south of Laredo |
Distances from Laredo
| City | Road miles | Route |
|---|---|---|
| Eagle Pass | 120 | US-83 N |
| Corpus Christi | 145 | US-59 E / SH-44 |
| McAllen | 145 | US-83 S |
| San Antonio | 150 | I-35 N |
| Brownsville | 200 | US-83 S / US-281 |
| Austin | 235 | I-35 N |
| Houston | 320 | US-59 E |