35 YEARS IN THE MAKING: BID LETTING OF EAST LOOP BY 2027

By Juan Montoya
Various Sources

As envisioned way back in 1993 by then-Cameron County Republican Judge Tony Garza and four Democratic commissioners, the passage of Project Road Map as a bond issue would address the future transportation needs of the county.

That was 31 years ago.

A week ago Tuesday, the Cameron County Commissioners Court passed a resolution affirming their commitment to the construction of one of the projects that was to be built with the passage of a bond issue to improve and construct new transportation arteries and projects across the county and would include the Brownsville East Loop.

The Brownsville Herald reported that the court unanimously approved the resolution in support of the East Loop project that will connect Veterans Bridge to the Port of Brownsville.

The project will be managed by Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority (CCRMA) and is one of the top five priority projects for Rio Grande Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization (RGVMPO).

The motion to approve the resolution was offered by Commissioner Sofia Benavides and seconded by Commissioner Joey Lopez.

"It's been a long time coming, but previous Pct. 1 commissioners and county administrations have always supported this very necessary project," Benavides said. "I'm glad I'll be here to cap off our collective efforts."

What happened along the way from the county residents' passage of the bond issue in 1993 and the current affirmation of its construction 31 years later?

The needs remain the same, according to local residents and businesses along SH 48 and International Blvd. Those arteries are still congested with 18-wheelers laden with overweight cargoes, trucks carrying hazardous materials and petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, and other toxic and flammable chemicals.

These highway monsters crawl along the route past churches, schools, public housing projects and single family dwellings. Periodically, trucks have spilled chemicals along the road and residents struggle to wend their way battling the 18-wheelers along the route.

Back in 1993, Garza – later Texas Railroad Commission chairman and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico under the George W. Bush presidency – said that by using the Texas Department of Transportation's Pass Through Financing Program program, the commissioners were able to secure two-thirds of the costs associated with the project list that would see only one-third of the cost paid by the county. The rest would be paid by the state as the projects came online.

After campaigning on behalf of the projects, the court saw the Project Road Map successfully approved by a two thirds majority vote on August 14, 1993.

Project Road Map projects, many since completed, addressed transportation and drainage needs in the county, including some far-reaching projects such as the widening of Southmost Road in Precinct 1 and many other projects in the northern precincts. But the monies for the East Loop were lost in the county's Black Hole of finances and filtered out to the construction of the Los Indios (Free Trade) Bridge, even though the project wasn't listed among the project in the the bond issue.

Fast forward to last Tuesday when Pete Sepulveda, executive director of CCRMA, said the project is approximately 11 miles long and will connect with the existing South Port Connector (read SpaceX Space Corridor)  road on State Highway 4. He said the Loop will begin at the intersection of I-69E and University Drive and will end on SH 4. He said the cost will be approximately $215 million and that the let date is set for 2027.

To Southmost resident Adolfo Aguilar, who lives along the Port of Brownsville-Los Tomates Bridge
near Canales Elementary, the projects completion morw than 35 years after it was passed on the bond issue can't come true soon enough.

"You shudder to think what would happen if we had a hazardous chemical spill near one of the schools like Canales or Porter High School," he said. "They are closed campuses and would have no place to run. This project should have been among the first to be constructed. But the boys from Harlingen and the rest of the county nos ganaron pisada (beat us to the draw)."

Sepulveda recounted to commissioners the reason behind the project's construction.

“Addressing our area’s mobility, our international trade corridors which are of regional, statewide and national significance, is of the utmost importance,” Sepulveda told the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service. 

“The East Loop project is vital for national and international commercial traffic and to our area’s economic development. It will address congestion, promote public safety, alleviate commute time and improve our resident’s livelihood for many years to come.”

Sepulveda said the East Loop projects is currently going through what is called a “functional classification” process at the Federal Highway Administration. He said that classification will allow the use of federal funds for the project.

“The resolution passed by Cameron County Commissioners Court basically lets the Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration know that the project is a high priority for Cameron County since it is an international trade corridor leading to the Port of Brownsville.”

Sepulveda said that responded that the resolution will help CCRMA access federal funds for the East Loop project. He said the City of Brownsville will also be invited to approve a similar resolution.

“The first segment, which is the South Port Connector road from Ostos Road, inside the Port, to State Highway 4 was built and opened a couple of years ago. So the segment from the Veterans Bridge to State Highway 4 is a segment we’re working with TxDOT on. Part of the funding that will be utilized for the construction is federal funding. As a result, we’re having to go through a process called ‘functional classification’, whereby the Federal Highway Administration will functionally classify the corridor either as an arterial connector street, minor arterial, or major arterial,” Sepulveda explained.

“So we received correspondence last week from the RGVMPO staff that they’re coordinating that process with the Federal Highway Administration. They had concerns on some of the streets surrounding the East Loop project. I believe most of those are inside the city limits of the City of Brownsville so I got with the city staff last week to address those.”

The Brownsville Herald reported that the CCRMA website has a page dedicated to the East Loop project. It states:

“The City of Brownsville, TxDOT, Cameron County, and the Port of Brownsville have all entered into partnership to further the development of the East Loop project. The East Loop corridor serves the Port of Brownsville, which exports and imports over 6.3 million metric tons of steel petroleum, machinery ores and other international trade exports to our Mexico partners. The East Loop project will also serve as the overweight corridor that runs currently within the City of Brownsville.

“Creating the East Loop Corridor for trucks traveling from Mexico and the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates to the Port of Brownsville will reduce congestion on I-69E and SH 48, as well as reduce the time of travel on all roadways in the Corridor.

“The East Loop Project consists of the construction of a four to six-lane roadway from SH 4 to I-69E (U.S. 77/83) and the Veterans International Bridge at Los Tomates," Sepulveda said.

One of the biggest selling points back then was the removal of the truck and hazardous materials traffic through East Brownsville from Highway 48 and International Blvd. Along the route, the trucks carrying the hazardous cargoes, congesting traffic and polluting the route with exhaust and noise, traversed next to schools, housing projects, churches, the college, neighborhoods and small businesses.

The wear and tear on the roads was constant, and the noise and congestion was, and to a large degree, still is, a nuisance to many people living along the route.

At least one of the former commissioners says the move is long overdue and welcomes the funding.

"We had set aside funding for that from the Project Road Map bond issue more than 30 years ago," said Lucino Rosenbaum, who was Pct. 1 commissioner when the Project Road Map was passed. "Subsequent administrations have kind of put it on the back burner, but now I'm happy to see that the county is getting the project going. Calos Cascos was one of my fellow commissioners when we went to the people to get the funding through the bond."

"The project will allow us to move commercial vehicles that are overweight and carrying hazardous cargo from residential, commercial and school zones in one of the most heavily traversed streets in Brownsville," then-County Judge Carlos H. Cascos told the Brownsville Herald.

"I'm glad to see that this project is coming to fruition even after that long delay," Rosenbaum said. "I know Carlos is proud that project on which we worked on together so long ago is actually becoming a reality."

"After all this time, I'm glad to see that they are working it out," he said. "All the ground work has been done for the project and I don't think that it is going to come to a stop for any reason."

Once built – if it eventually is built – the East Loop Project will eliminate hazardous and overweight traffic from 6 schools in the area.

* It will facilitate the movement of Export/Import on the Corridor with Mexico has is growing every year

* It will make the movement of imports and exports from the port of Brownsville easier. 

* And perhaps of more importance to local residents, it will eliminate 17 stops and 6 school zones which planners say will significantly improve air quality in the East Loop Corridor.

"I'll believe it when I see it," said a used-tire shop owner whose business sits across Canales Elementary on International Blvd. "Every day we see those heavy trucks pass through here carrying all that dangerous stuff. Dios favoresca que no pase una tragedia."