Busy Upper Valley intersection sees construction again

A drainage project at a busy Upper Valley intersection is causing headaches for some drivers.

Crews are working on a prior El Paso Water Utilities project because the concrete surrounding the drainage grates started to fail. Workers are on the south side lanes now, soon they’ll be working on the north bound lanes.

For people who live nearby though, they say work has been done at the intersection over and over again. A couple of people ABC-7 talked to have a lot of questions.

“Why is there so much construction there? When it’s peak time it really gets busy there,” Edgar Bridges said. He’s lived in the neighborhood for 20 years.

When concrete loosens and deteriorates, it becomes a traffic hazard for motorists.

“If it needs to be done, let’s get it done. It does interfere with people coming and going to work,” Sandra Vasquez said.

The original EPWU work done was under warranty. Fixing both sides of Doniphan shouldn’t take more than two weeks, according to the utility.

“I go around through Doniphan to Sunland Park and try to get out that way rather than going through all that,” Bridges said about how he’s changed his commutes.

For people like Vasquez and Bridges who live nearby, completion can’t come soon enough. Most other residents ABC-7 spoke with today have vivid memories of storm 2006. Many homes were flooded on Emory Drive.