Border Boom Part 3: El Paso’s Lower Valley

By ABC-7 Reporter Martin Bartlett

EL PASO, Texas – For decades, the Lower Valley has been the breadbasket of El Paso County, producing crops like cotton, pecans, alfalfa, and onions. But now, the seeds are being sewn for a new crop, and it is growing fast.

That’s why it doesn’t take long to see that some big new opportunities are sprouting up in the lower valley.

“When i was growing up here, we didn’t have that available,” said Lower Valley native Frank Arroyos. “We Hispanics have a tendency to want to be together as a family.”

Now he’s helping shape the future of the areaas owner of Cisco Homes, which builds primarily in the Lower Valley and in the city of Socorro.

He sees a future that clings tight to tradition.

“That has called for the need to build new houses for these people to be able to move into and stay close to their family, to their mom, to their grandparents to their families,” he said. “Homes come, communities come, then retail is bound to come.”

Commercial developers said growth in the Lower Valley has been steady over the last decade. But why isn’t the prosperity running the entire length of the valley?

According to experts,it’s at least in part because right now Zaragoza Road, Americas Avenue and Yarbrough Boulevard are the only three major Lower Valley roadways in the city that allow drivers to connect from I-10 to Border Highway.

Three other major roadways, Airway Blvd., Hunter Dr. and Lee Trevino Dr., only go from I-10 to North Loop Drive.

Many commercial developers said the if those roads were completed all the way to Border Highway, there’d be more traffic moving through the Valley and that would make the intersections more enticing for development.

El Paso City Engineer Alan Shubert said the need is clear.

“They are projects that are on the line for us to be doing,” he said , “there’s just nor always a clear path to get any of the jobs done.”

For example, concerns over Tigua tribal land have thrown up a road block for the planned extension of Lee Trevino for years.

“Whether or not it’s at Lee Trevino, it would really assist the Valley to have another connection between I-10 and the Border Highway,” Shubert said.

In the coming months his department will work to give city council other options, because there are plenty of problems, Shubert said.

“A lot of that land was developed as farmland and so a lot of the roads were just farm roads, rural roads,” he said.

So as the valley changes, they’re a challenge.

“That’s one of the questionsI always ask beforeI buy a piece of property, how easy is it to get between I-10 and the border freeway,” Arroyos said.

It’s up to leaders to keep up with all the change, Arroyos said.

Right now, two ports of entry serve the Lower Valley.

A third port of entry somewhere between the two is on the city’s wishlist.

It would help many of the maquila workers who live in the lower valley get back and forth to Juarez.