A $750 million project to extend Interstate 10 in downtown El Paso is a rigorous study of how the project will affect everything from the environment to businesses to local residents. I’m about to receive
Known as an environmental impact statement, this study has historically required architects, scientists, environmentalists, and engineers to study the impact of a project on its surroundings. Work on the impact statement began this month and could take years to complete.
“I’m glad to hear they’re doing this more comprehensive study, but let’s see what happens. I’m not too optimistic. Oppose expansion plans.
The first scoping meeting for the Downtown 10 project – enabling residents to review and comment on the plan, its objectives and alternatives, and expected environmental impacts – will take place November 30 in Judson’s Juarez Room in the afternoon. It is scheduled from 4:00 to 7:00. F. Williams Convention Center. The meeting is public.
In a meeting notice issued Nov. 8, the Texas Department of Transportation noted that the agency is reclassifying the project. This includes adding lanes to the highway under sunken sections of the highway. A more limited environmental assessment.
“There are a lot of things that should be changed,” said Ted Horton, former chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission. There are many things,” he said. “I think it’s a good process and we will get good results.”
The downtown project, which has been under development since 2019 through the Re-Imagine I-10 study, covers 5.6 miles of highway from Executive Center Boulevard to Copia Street and includes up to 30 commercial and residential buildings. Dismantling may be required. .
“TxDOT is simply dot I and intersect T, because any project that uses unique domains to try and get property is always sensitive. But that doesn’t stop it.” ‘ said Joe Pickett, a former state congressman.
During his time in Congress from 1995 to 2018, Pickett served as chairman of the state’s Environmental Regulatory Commission and a member of the Transportation Commission.
“Under the National Environmental Policy Act, an environmental assessment is a concise review document that considers the purpose and need of a proposal, alternatives, and a review of the environment affected,” said Tomas Treviño, TxDOT El Paso District Engineer. said in an email. Response to El Paso Matters.
One of the alternatives, called the no-build alternative, examines the effects of not building anything. In this case, leave the 1-10 stretch as is.
Treviño said it was necessary to request an environmental impact statement. Because the project is being developed in a ‘critical national artery’ which will ensure more opportunities for feedback from the public.
A statement is a much more comprehensive document than an assessment, and will also require a more complete “discussion of reasonable alternatives and a review of the cumulative impacts of proposed project areas,” Treviño added.
When asked how long the process would take, Treviño said, ‘Timelines vary depending on the complexity of the project.’
For example, the environmental impact assessment for the Loop 375 Border Highway West Extension project took about five years. Work on the impact statement began in 2007 and ended in 2012. Construction of the loop extension did not begin until 2015.
Once completed within the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act, the statement will be internally reviewed and approved by TxDOT’s Environmental Affairs Division, Houghton said.
Construction tenders for the Downtown 10 project are expected to begin in mid-to-late 2025, according to the TxDOT factsheet.
Horton said he doesn’t believe the evaluation will slow down the progress of the project.
However, the project has already met opposition, including backlash from city and county governments and some community members who don’t believe it will help ease traffic congestion.
In March, the city council passed a resolution calling on TxDOT to remove the project’s planned sidewalks and replace them with pedestrian-friendly streets, street parking, streetlights and trees.
At the time, TxDOT officials said they had already incorporated some of these elements into the project, and that the frontage roads in the city center were dissimilar to frontage roads in other parts of El Paso, such as Sunland Park. was
The El Paso County Commissioner’s Court last fall hired an independent transportation consulting firm to study the expansion project. The study found, in part, that TxDOT’s model exaggerated the benefits of highway expansion.
Future Impact on Deck Plaza
At the same time that TxDOT is developing the Downtown 10 project, the Paso del Norte Community Foundation is advocating a deck on I-10 in the same downtown area. The foundation’s board of directors established the Downtown Deck Plaza Foundation to support the project and help raise funds.
Treviño said the deck plaza concept is not part of TxDOT’s environmental impact statement.
But the Deck Plaza project is gaining momentum with a recent $900,000 US Department of Transportation grant awarded to the city for design research. The original concept for Deck Plaza envisioned a lush recreational space.
TxDOT officials say Deck Plaza is a separate project and the state won’t pay for it, but the Downtown 10 expansion can be built in a way that can support future construction. TxDOT will partner with the city to apply for a federal grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation in May to fund the project.
Mayor Tommy Gonzalez said in an October presentation to the city council about grant opportunities that the goal is to get the project fully funded by the federal government.
Horton, who is also chairman of the El Paso Mobility Coalition, which advocates for transportation initiatives and community funding, said at some point the two projects should be integrated and built together.
Tracy Yellen, CEO of the Paso del Norte Community Foundation, agrees.
“The Deck Plaza feasibility study will demonstrate how a green cap over I-10 in the Downtown Corridor could be improved and coordinated with TxDOT’s work on I-10 to meet community needs and address community concerns. , helps us better understand how it fits in structure and scale, says Yellen.
Pickett said that if the project gets funding for research, it’s likely to come to fruition.
“People have the misconception that research is like you and I actually collecting data and deciding whether or not to move forward.” We’ll do it,’ and the research just tells us all the hurdles we’ll have to jump to get it done.”
Stout said he thinks Deck Plaza would be a great green space, but that it’s led by the developer, not the community. .
“Deck Park is this wonderful shiny object hanging in front of us and behind us that is actually pushing something (the expansion project) that is going to be very detrimental to us. “I don’t think you should compromise on that.”
