Canadian Pacific Kansas City officially opened the Patrick J. Ottensmeyer International Railway Bridge with a ceremonial ribbon cutting held over the Rio Grande.
Ottensmeyer was the final president and CEO of Kansas City Southern from 2015 until April 14, 2023, upon the completion of the combination of Canadian Pacific and KCS that created CPKC. He passed away in July 2024.
Ottensmeyer received the North American Rail Shippers Association Edward R. Hamberger Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023. He was a two-time Railway Age Railroader of the Year in 2020 and 2022 and received Progressive Railroading’s Railroad Innovator Award in 2019.
Ottensmeyer also served as the U.S. Chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s U.S.-Mexico Economic Council from 2019 to 2023. As leader of the U.S.-Mexico CEO Dialogue, he was instrumental in representing business interests during the formation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) from 2017-2020.
The Ottensmeyer bridge is the only railroad bridge crossing the Rio Grande River linking Laredo, Texas, and Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, across the U.S.-Mexico border. The $100 million bridge more than doubles the capacity at the border of the most secure and efficient railway trade corridor between the United States and Mexico, the U.S.’s largest trading partner.
The U.S. Presidential Permit for constructing the new bridge span was received in July 2020.
