By Juan Montoya
By a 7-3 vote, Brownsville's West Side neighborhoods beat back a developer-backed scheme to turn their neighborhoods into a $179 million Cameron County Regional Mobility project that would have resulted in the construction of a two-lane, limited-access toll road with overpasses.
The vote effectively puts an end to the multimillion plan that would have run from the B&M Bridge to U.S. Expressway 77/83 near the 77 Flea Market along what is currently Union Pacific railroad right-of-way.
Construction Giant HTNB, which recently gained notoriety after the government charged it had over billed more than $9 million for its fees in allocating disaster monies, was slated to rake in millions on the project.
This past Wednesday, members of the Brownsville Metropolitan Planning Organization policy commission voted against it at the meeting held at the Mary Yturria Education Center at the Historic Brownsville Museum.The Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority's plan would have meant dividing the West Brownsville neighborhood with a toll road.
Plans called for construction of a two-lane, limited-access toll road with overpasses.
Eugene "Gene" Novogrodsky, a West Brownsville resident and bicycling enthusiast, had long opposed the tollway and called instead for the city to cultivate its environmental assets.
The city must now decide what proposal for what to do with the Union Pacific right-of-way.
Whatever it decides – whether it's West Loop Trails featuring hike-and-bike trails only and no road; and two different West Loop plans – none would include a toll road.
"We won," said a toll road opponent. "Our neighborhoods remain intact until we decide what we want, not some construction company from the outside."
5 comments:
WAY TO GO WEST SIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!
ALL RIGHT!!! A BIG THANKS TO:
Eugene "Gene" Novogrodsky, a West Brownsville resident and bicycling enthusiast, had long opposed the tollway and called instead for the city to cultivate its environmental assets.
The city must now decide what proposal for what to do with the Union Pacific right-of-way.
Whatever it decides – whether it's West Loop Trails featuring hike-and-bike trails only and no road; and two different West Loop plans – none would include a toll road.
"We won," said a toll road opponent. "Our neighborhoods remain intact until we decide what we want, not some construction company from the outside."
I am so glad the project was voted down. No one in the neighborhood wanted it. The B&M bridge is not up to handling big truck traffic. What were they thinking? What Brownsville needs is a loop, one that will get us around the city without having to travel through the city, that is what we need.
That guy deserves a big THANK YOU from West Brownsville.
This project was needed by Brownsville. It was not going to divide the West side of towns since overpasess would be built on 5th and 8th streets. How do you expect for Brownsville to progress without the infrastructure in place for big companies to come to our city. Oh, well, that is Brownsville for you. With decisions like this, our beautiful city will never be a great city!!
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