Cargo Transport and Economic Development in the Chihuahua-Albuquerque Corridor: An Emerging Binational “Megapolitan” Area?

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe U. S. Department of Transportation highlights the “megaregion,” a collection of multiple metropolitan areas that experience high volumes of cargo transport between them. Researchers further identify the smaller “megapolitan area,” comprised of two or three metropolitan areas strongly connected by rail and highway. To shed light on these definitions, this article addresses the expanding bi-national economic corridor extending from Chihuahua to Albuquerque, whose core is the Paso del Norte (El Paso, Ciudad Juárez) metropolitan region. The Chihuahua-Albuquerque corridor exhibits signs of becoming a megapolitan area, due to logistics and other economic activities that increasingly bind its metropolitan areas.