The port's opening in 1880 coincided with a sudden economic boom in Argentina, and the Provincial Legislature awarded him a generous budget for improvements, including a breakwater and the dredging of the silty Riachuelo mouth to 6.5 m (21 ft).

[1] Huergo continued to campaign against the costly Puerto Madero works in his capacity as Dean of the School of Exact Sciences at Buenos Aires, while also accepting new projects.

Returning to Córdoba Province, he designed San Roque Reservoir in 1888 as a means to prevent flooding along the Suquia and Cosquín Rivers.

He was appointed Minister of Public Works for the important Province of Buenos Aires and designed Puerto Belgrano, the Argentine Navy's first deep-water port.

Another reflection of the booming Argentine economy of the time, maritime shipping, had increased dramatically since Huergo's proposal for the Port of Buenos Aires had been passed over in 1882.