That for all the attention paid to the incredible growth along the I-35 corridor between San Antonio and Austin, there should be equal attention given to the greater South Texas region and our many connections to Northern Mexico.

That while San Antonio will benefit from the so-called Texas Triangle — the fast-growing mega-region of San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston — there is another region of equal importance to the Alamo City’s present and future. This would be the South Texas Triangle, comprising San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley, a region that connects with Northern Mexico — in particular, the city of Monterrey.

Including Monterrey, the region is home to some 10 million people, and San Antonio is central to its economic competitiveness and spirit of innovation. It is a binational region and key to the trade that flows between the United States, Mexico and Canada. It is a landscape rich with opportunity and promise, but also one that faces long-standing challenges around infrastructure and pervasive inequality.

For example, Port Laredo is the nation’s busiest inland port, frequently celebrated across the region. But as María Eugenia Calderón-Porter, assistant vice president at Texas A&M International University, noted in the San Antonio Forward series, it is also a port in desperate need of improved infrastructure.

While some 17,000 trucks pass through the port each day, the segment of the highway between Laredo and San Antonio has fewer than six lanes. Many I-35 segments to the north of San Antonio have six lanes. It is a disparity that needs to be addressed.

That means they are cut off from online education, the possibility of remote work, telehealth and other forms of connection.

It is little surprise then  that the region, despite all its growth and demographic promise, also struggles with stark differences in opportunity and access to health care, as well as disparities in education levels between the Latino and white populations.

“Despite the important role Latinos have played in the region’s population and job growth, they have extremely low socioeconomic status compared with whites,” University of Texas at San Antonio demography professor Rogelio Sáenz wrote. “For example, only 17% of Latinos 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 38.5% of whites.”

It is one thing to write about issues, quite another to address them.

At the state level, voter approval of Proposition 8, which will create a $1.5 billion fund to improve broadband connections, is an opportunity to address the broadband deserts that are all too common in South Texas. How that happens will require coordination between state and local leaders.

Addressing these challenges requires civic infrastructure. And the good news is it exists.

UTSA and Texas A&M University-San Antonio are Hispanic-serving institutions and are crucial to shifting education disparities in the region and creating a competitive workforce.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg has partnered with other regional mayors to create the South Texas Mayors Alliance, which will be essential in creating regional civic partnerships that exist beyond any one elected official’s time in office.

And the South Texas Business Partnership, formerly known as the South San Antonio Chamber, has broadened (wisely)  its economic vision to serve the greater South Texas region. It’s the South Texas Business Partnership that can connect businesses and potential talent.

The South Texas region can be a leader in developing clean energy, advanced manufacturing, cybersecurity and biosciences. It can also serve as a model for binational trade. There is no doubt the region will grow, but this is a unique moment for civic and business leaders to shape that growth.