Americas Interchange now complete

The Americas Interchange is now complete.

It took 675,000 hours spent in the design and construction to get this done.

The project first broke ground in October 2012. Two years and $141 million later, Interstate-10 and Loop 375 have three direct connectors, a south to west direct connector, north to west direct connector, and the east to north direct connector.

“There’s a bunch of folks that work Downtown but live on the Eastside, said Raymond Telles, executive director of Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority. “So what we’re doing is making their commute a lot easier.”

Now motorists will be able to travel the I-10 headed toward the Loop without stopping and, Telles estimates, in a much shorter time.

“I think this is really important because the growth on the Eastside,” Telles said.”There’s a lot of people that live on the Eastside but still want to work Downtown.”

The city’s efforts to revitalize Downtown will only be aided by the interchange according to County Judge Veronica Escobar.

“What many folks don’t realize is having a modern, updated, efficient transportation system makes us far more competitive than not having one,”Escobar said.

She says El Paso will look more attractive to investors, as a place where good can easily flow. This transportation transformation could eventually lead to more.

“We have to do things like street cars, like a great mass transit system,”Escobar said.

But for now, commuters will be happy to get home quickly.

Three more connectors are expected to be built next year. For a map of the flyovers, click on the CRRMA website.