Del Rio transportation projects funded, now come the long rows to hoe

January 7, 2008
By Bill Sontag
Feature Writer

Del Rioans, area residents, truckers and travelers may wait another three years before a transportation corridor from south Del Rio and the Port of Entry is re-established after the door was slammed shut by federal construction in November 2006.

Del Rio stumbled into a deep trench dug by its own officials a few years ago. It was a hole that nearly became a grave, transportation deficiencies known – but not acted on – for years. In May 2007, Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) officials rode into town to salt the pit with gold nuggets, $12 million of Consolidated Border Infrastructure (CBI) funds.

In July, terse, foot-tapping position statements from the Del Rio Chamber of Commerce and the Area Development Foundation shined a bright light on the urgency to secure the CBI funding. “The Del Rio Chamber of Commerce hopes the City and the County can forego past conflicts on these projects and unite themselves to bring each of the above to a successful conclusion…” wrote Chamber President Fred Delgado.

Recently, city and county officials received contract proposals from TxDOT to cooperatively manage the CBI allocations. According to Advance Planning Director Melisa Montemayor, TxDOT Laredo District, the green light from the Federal Highway Administration to start spending only awaits approvals from Val Verde County Commissioners Court and Del Rio City Council. Montemayor said Friday (Jan. 4) that Del Rio and Val Verde County have gotten the nod for three transportation-related projects, and there may be enough CBI monies left over to fund a fourth, all parts of a total of $81 million allocated by Congress for Texas projects in the Laredo District, $165 million set aside for the entire U.S.-Mexico border.

Friday, Bob Parker, chief city engineer, said Del Rio City Council has already approved the contract between TxDOT and the city, and his office will now prepare a request for qualifications (RFQ) to which consulting engineer contractors may respond. One of the federal stipulations for CBI funding is that part of the monies be used for independent engineers to satisfy requirements for environmental studies and right-of-way (ROW) selection. “We found out right before the holidays that the funding was unofficially available to us,” said Parker. “Now, Miss Frances [City Manager Frances Rodriguez] has received the formal notification, finished up our agreements, and council has approved resolutions for two of the projects to proceed.”

Parker said the city’s successful applications were for $2.7 million to construct a relief route from Qualia Drive to Spur 239, bypassing the closure of Qualia due to massive federal expansion of the Del Rio Port of Entry (POE). The POE expansion also necessitates moving the city’s international bridge toll collections several hundred yards north on Spur 239 to be adjacent to the new POE offices and checkpoint, as they are now. That project is estimated to cost $2.3 million, also a target of CBI funding.

Parker explained that federal grants of this sort require a 20 percent “match” in funding from the city or county. “But we are listed as a ‘disadvantaged county,’” Parker said. “So our ‘match’ is only 10 percent. “Our local cost for the toll booths is expected to be about $225,000, and may be more, but we don’t have a good estimate yet,” said Parker. The city’s relief route participation should require about $290,000, Parker said.

Parker is cautious about stating timeframes and targets for completion, insisting that all such estimates are approximate, but the complicated Qualia Drive – Spur 239 relief route may not be ready for traffic until July 2009, perhaps later. “To get the consulting engineers on board, we have to advertise the RFQs for a month, then take three weeks to evaluate the proposals, and three more weeks to negotiate on their estimates. That’s when we whack at ‘em, until we get ‘em down to something reasonable,” Parker quipped.

The consulting engineers will be looking at proposed routes for compliance with about 63 federal environmental and antiquities laws, Parker explained. “You really get some strings attached to federal money,” he said, adding that ROW acquisition cannot occur until those requirements have been satisfied, probably no sooner than November of this year. Parker believes there is a good possibility that CBI funds may also be available for another project, badly needed in his opinion. “If there’s some funding left over, we’re going to be applying to get Alderete Lane, from Nicholson to Frontera Road paved. It really needs it,” said Parker. Estimated cost for the work on Alderete, Parker said, is $1.9 million.

Otila Gonzalez, administrative assistant to Val Verde County Judge Mike L. Fernandez said county commissioners will review the TxDOT CBI funding contract proposal for a major road rehabilitation project in the industrial park, west of Spur 239. “It’s for Frontera Road, from Spur 239 to the [Union Pacific] railroad tracks,” Gonzalez explained, Friday. “The Val Verde County Commissioners Court will be looking at it on the agenda for January 14 so the judge can sign the contract.”

Gonzalez said the project estimate is $2.5 million. “It will re-do the whole thing, with new base to handle truck traffic on an industrial-grade road. And I filled out the paperwork for us to be considered as a disadvantaged county, so it took our ‘match’ down from $510,000 to $272,000.

Montemayor told LIVE! Friday that she anticipates the engineers’ review for possible environmental disturbances to the ROW for the Qualia Drive relief route will go smoothly. “I’ve driven it, but I haven’t walked it yet, but, if I had to guess, I’d say it’s going to go OK with an EA [environmental assessment] and a FONSI [finding of no significant impact],” Montemayor said, adding, however, that one never knows what might be discovered in the study process that might require a far more elaborate, costly and time-consuming environmental impact statement (EIS).

Montemayor said her agency and FHWA officials will be scrutinizing the environmental studies and plans developed by the consulting engineers. “We’ll probably be looking at the plans when they’re 30 percent [complete], 60 percent, 90 percent and at the 100 percent stage. The main purpose of these reviews is to make sure the plans are being prepared according to the federal guidelines and standards so that the development is streamlined. Usually, by the time we review them, FHWA has little or no comment because we [TxDOT] are so used to reviewing according to the standards they’re looking for,” Montemayor said.