|
Only have a minute? Listen instead |
Cameron County officials want the public’s input on a road project that will eventually connect the Harlingen area, and the rest of the Valley, to the second South Padre Island causeway.
The Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority will host a public meeting about the Outer Parkway project Thursday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Rio Hondo Civic Center at 121 N. Arroyo Blvd. in Rio Hondo. Members of the public are invited to learn about construction plans for the 22-mile highway and give feedback.
The Outer Parkway would connect Interstate 69E and U.S. Highway 77 north of Combes to General Brant Road, also called FM 106, in Rio Hondo. As proposed, it would cross unincorporated parts of northwestern Cameron County.
Pete Sepulveda Jr., executive director of the mobility authority, said that public input is crucial. The Outer Parkway project, coupled with a proposed highway connecting Interstate 69C north of Edinburg to Interstate 69E north of Harlingen, would provide “direct connectivity from Edinburg, Pharr, McAllen, Mission area all the way to South Padre Island.”
Attendees will be able to give feedback on the original proposal and several alternatives, Sepulveda said.
“A lot of times, we do end up taking those into consideration and adjusting our alignment based on public input, so it’s extremely important that we hear from the public,” Sepulveda said. “I know a lot of people say, ‘Why go? They’re not going to pay attention to us.’ On the contrary, that’s what we want. We might have missed something, and there’s property owners that have lived there for many, many years and have a much better understanding (of the terrain) than we do.”
Phase I of the project would construct two 12-foot-wide travel lanes and two 10-foot-wide shoulders in each direction. Phase II would construct two main travel lanes, along with frontage roads in some areas, going both eastbound and westbound.
It would be constructed within a 300-foot right-of-way “within most of the project limits in both phases,” according to a public notice. During Phase II, that would expand to a 500-foot right-of-way where the highway intersects with existing roads.
Construction is also expected to intersect with FM 507 and the future extension on FM 509, FM 2925 and FM 803. The proposed project, for which design plans have not been finalized, may require additional right-of-way and “potentially displace residential and non-residential structures,” according to a public notice. It would also involve construction in wetlands and “involve action in a floodplain.”
Sepulveda said that the cost of the project, which is in the environmental study phase, would be around $350 million from the Texas Department of Transportation and take anywhere from 36 months to 60 months for completion. Before that begins, getting environmental clearance will take around 24 months to 36 months.