By LAURA B. MARTINEZ/The Brownsville Herald

A shortage in state funding for city and county projects has put the brakes on some road projects including the expansion of Morrison Road and developing a second causeway to South Padre Island.

The Texas Department of Transportation notified city and county officials late last year that funding for statewide projects is being scaled back, therefore local coffers won’t be filled anytime soon.

Although the projects allocated for the funding will eventually get done, how long it will take to complete them is anyone’s guess.

“It may be that the projects are going to get done, but the challenge is going to be: Are we going to get them done in the initial time frame that we all thought, or are we going to have to wait an additional three, four or five years?” Cameron County Judge Carlos H. Cascos said.

Behrooz Badiozzamani, deputy district engineer at TxDOT’s Pharr office, last week said several factors led to the shortage of funding at the state agency including inflation and preparing existing highways.

And although Cameron County’s funding is getting cut, it is getting more than others in regards to available funding. TxDOT supports the projects and will start to fund them as soon as possible.

The news was somewhat of a surprise for Cameron County and city of Brownsville officials, who had already been working on projects designated as funding recipients.

Cameron County was to receive more than $21 million for the development of a second causeway and further work on the West Loop project while Brownsville was to receive about $5 million to help with the expansion of Morrison Road from Expressway 77/83 to Paredes Line Road.

Now, county officials will try and find other funding options to try and get the projects done.

“We are just going to have to roll up our sleeves” and look at the projects, said David Garcia, assistant county administrator for Cameron County.

The West Loop is part of the county and city’s West Rail Relocation Plan. It’s to replace the rail portion of the B&M Bridge with a new one west of the city.

Of the $21.6 million the county was to receive, $12 million was to go to an environmental assessment for the West Loop project and $9 million to begin the environmental impact study for the second causeway.

Garcia said that the county will receive the money for the projects, but no timeline has been set.

“They didn’t say it was not coming,” just that the state is experiencing cash flow problems, Garcia said.

County officials had already met once with state and federal officials to discuss the second causeway project. The Regional Mobility Authority was to look at two sites considered by TxDOT, which were Holly Beach North and Laguna Heights East.

They were also to consider the possibility of having the causeway somehow linked to U.S. Expressway 77/83.

Two months after the Sept. 15, 2001, collapse of the Queen Isabella Causeway, talks resurfaced on the need for a second causeway, but no location had been chosen for the new bridge.

In fact, the building of a second causeway went back to step one after a study and proposal by TxDOT was shot down by some Island residents and business owners.

Because an agreement could not be reached, it was decided that the second causeway development would be turned over to the RMA or Regional Mobility Authority.

Also affected by lack of funding is an expansion project set to begin later this year at Veterans Bridge. Plans had been in the works to add two more lanes to the northbound traffic that would be used for tractor-trailer rigs.

Residents and city officials witnessed first hand the need for a Morrison Road expansion during holiday shopping season. Traffic was backed up and down the road as shoppers tried to make their way to the Las Tiendas Shopping Center and Pablo Kisel Boulevard.

“At Christmas time there was a huge amount of traffic over there. We saw cars backed up at the signal. You had huge number of people trying to go to the same place,” said Mark Lund, director of the city’s Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Plans are in the works to not only make Morrison Road into a four-lane road, but expand it from the expressway to Paredes Line Road to help alleviate traffic congestion on Alton Gloor Boulevard and FM 802, said Lund.

The city had hoped to begin the expansion to Paredes Line Road in fiscal year 2009, but that has been delayed to 2011.

State funding on hold:
$12 million - West Loop project
$9 million - Second causeway
$5million - Morrison Road expansion
Source: Cameron County and City of Brownsville

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