Bypass Around Lajitas....

[SHANEA]

Your tax dollars hard at work....  

http://www.marfatx.com/uploadedfiles/txdotapril.html

TxDoT to hold public meeting in
Marfa on area road work April 17
 
By MEGAN WILDE

MARFA – Texas Department of Transportation representatives from the El Paso district will discuss past, present and future projects in the tri-county area at a public hearing April 17 in the Casner Room in Marfa.

Every two years the transportation agency holds meetings with residents to update them and hear comments on recently completed, current and upcoming road projects in the six-county El Paso district, according to Alpine area engineer Chris Weber. At the upcoming Marfa meeting, Weber will give an update on local road work, and district staff will talk about the Transportation Improvement Program, a regional plan used to budget funds and schedule highway improvements for the next three fiscal years. They will also discuss the Unified Transportation Program, a 10-year plan required for federal funding.

The current local projects Weber will discuss include the construction of a half-mile loop road at Davis Mountains State Park, as well as the addition of passing lanes on US 67/90 between Marfa and Alpine and between Alpine and Fort Stockton. Weber will talk about the need for the Marfa-Alpine and Alpine-Fort Stockton highway work.

“In a nutshell, they were both built around mid-1950s safety standards,” he said. “We’re trying to bring them up to today’s criteria.”

The US 67/90 road work is along the proposed La Entrada al Pacifico route, but Weber said the April meeting is not intended to be a La Entrada hearing. He is still expecting a few questions about the trade corridor being related to the highway projects.

“We didn’t design them because of La Entrada. We didn’t get them funded because they’re on La Entrada,” he said of the US 67/90 projects. “But are they on the route? Yes.”

He explained that the projects are needed highway upgrades and similar upgrades have been and are being done throughout the area.

“From our perspective here, we’re just taking care of the needs locally,” he said.

Weber will also discuss recently completed rehabilitation projects on portions of SH 17 and I-10 in northern Jeff Davis County, and FM 170 from Lajitas to Terlingua in southern Brewster County.

The FM 170 improvements were originally going to include a bypass around Lajitas resort, paid for by resort owner Steve Smith and a $1.2-million earmark by former Congressman Henry Bonilla. Weber said Smith and TxDoT made an agreement to create the bypass about two years ago, but the resort owner has yet to provide the documentation needed to proceed with the project.

“We still have an agreement with them. We just haven’t gotten to that point,” he said.

As far as future road work, Weber said TxDoT has plans for two projects on US 90 east of Marathon and on SH 118 between Alpine and Fort Davis, which he will also discuss at the public meeting.

Besides taking comments at the meeting, TxDoT will accept written comments through April 30 on the transportation projects, Transportation Improvement Program, and Unified Transportation Program. Written comments should be addressed to Charles Berry, Jr., P.E., District Engineer, ATTN: Advance Transportation Planning, Texas Department of Transportation, 13301 Gateway Blvd. West, El Paso, TX 79928-5410.

[SHANEA]

TxDOT sitting on money for Lajitas resort road

[xseption]

Is there anything concerning the impact (economic, air quality, etc) on the current land use based on these road improvements?

~ edd