El Paso City Council discusses supporting removing commercial traffic at BOTA
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso City representatives and El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser voted unanimously to send a letter of support for alternative 4 of the U.S. General Services Administration's proposal to remove commercial traffic at the Bridge of the Americas.
U.S. GSA started a 45-day period for public input to learn which one of the alternatives the community prefers for the $650 million modernization project.
On Monday, El Paso County Commissioners voted to support the U.S. GSA's alternative to remove semi-trucks from the Chamizal neighborhood.
Item 31 of today's City Council agenda was submitted by City Representative District 2, Josh Acevedo.
"The city of El Paso is uniting with our community and saying we agree, and I'm happy that the GSA is taking that approach. So now we have the county and the city, we have the congresswoman (Veronica Escobar) behind it," City Rep. Josh Acevedo said.
For Rep. Acevedo, this decision by the city makes the case even stronger now for the U.S. GSA to move forward to remove semi-trucks from the BOTA.
"This is a good start to not have commercial traffic, but we need to have a game plan. We need to have an alternative and we need to have a good game plan. And that's what I'm looking for from GSA to say, this is our plan, and this is our next move to make sure that we don't move that problem somewhere else," El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser said.
"They have a game plan and I don't see it, and it really concerns me. It needs to concern all of us because we don't want to leave the problem where it is today, I agree, and I don't think anyone in here disagrees with that, but GSA has to have a game plan. It's about time," Mayor Leeser added.
Some of the discussions were that the Ysleta-Zaragoza Port of Entry might get the double of semi-trucks that are currently crossing daily.
Some city representatives have supported the idea of not having commercial trucks at the Bridge of the Americas because of the air and pollution impacts in that area.
Several members of the Familias Unidas del Chamizal organization also attended today's City Council session, they signed up for public comment.
"This is a historic moment. The moment that we got the funding to renovate 'el puente' was a historic moment because it was coming from this administration's initiatives to reduce emissions and address environmental injustice," said the community organizer for the organization, Cemellí de Aztlan.
For other advocates, this is a historic moment because they have full support from both the city and the county of El Paso.
U.S. GSA started with six alternatives and then they narrowed them down to only three, here are the alternatives:
- 1A - Flexible future with commercial traffic and potential conversion to non-commercial only
- 4 - removes commercial traffic
- No action
This 45-day period ends on November 4, 2024.
Draft for the U.S. GSA's Environmental Impact Statement and related documents can be found at www.gsa.gov/bota in the Environmental Review section.
If you want to submit a comment to U.S. GSA, here's their email:
Must include “BOTA LPOE Draft EIS” in the subject line.
Mail:
U.S. General Services Administration
Attention: Karla Carmichael, NEPA Program Manager
819 Taylor St, Room 12-B
Fort Worth, TX 76102
Comments must be received by Nov. 4, 2024, at 11.59 p.m. CST to be considered by GSA.
