Construction on the Anzalduas International Bridge officially finished on Tuesday afternoon.

Officials still need to post signs, paint stripes and install lightning on the Mexican side and finished connected roads.

Authorities are preparing for a possible late October or early November.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon is expected to attend and invited United States President Barack Obama to attend the opening of the Anzalduas bridge.

The two leaders met with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at a summit in Guadalajara earlier this week.

White House officials told Action 4 News on Wednesday afternoon that Obama has declined the invitation.

Mexican media outlets quoted Tamaulipas Governor Eugenio Hernandez Flores as saying that Obama would attend the bridge opening.

George Ramon with the Anzalduas International Bridge said President Calderon is expected to attend the event.

Ramon said they still plan to send a formal invitation to the bridge opening to Obama and other dignitaries once a date has been set.

He said bridge officials remain hopeful that both presidents along with other dignitaries will attend the event.

Ramon said a comment made by Calderon at the summit may have been taken out of context by the Mexican media and others.

President Calderon said during a speech at the Guadalajara summit that, “We would inaugurate the first international bridge built in several years between the United States and Mexico.”

Calderon’s statement in Spanish:

“A México le congratula que en el próximo otoño, inauguraremos el primer puente internacional que se construye después de varios años entre Estados Unidos y México.”