Highway renaming plan draws emotional protest from namesake, family
El Paso County Commissioners debated Monday whether to rename a highway that runs from the US-Mexico border to I-10. The problem is, the highway already has a name — Manuel F. Aguilera Highway– and Aguilera and his family see the name change as an insult.
The highway was named in honor of Aguilera in 2003, in recognition of his 37 years as deputy district engineer for TXDOT. One of the major projects he worked on was the Spaghetti Bowl in Central El Paso.
El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar told the family previous commissioners courts can’t dictate the actions of future courts.
Aguilera’s son-in-law, Attorney Mark Rosales, said “to strip it and take it away would be a dishonor.”
Judge Escobar argued the renaming isn’t intended to dishonor Aguilera, but the port of entry represents a new era, and the area needs to be thought of differently, she said. The 6-mile Aguilera Highway runs from the Tornillo International Port of Entry to I-10. She hopes for a new name that would be more emblematic of international trade.
The proposal to rename Aguilera Highway was approved on a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Carlos Leon and Andrew Haggerty voting against it.
Commissioners also voted unanimously to remove Miguel Teran’s name from Teran Park. They renamed it Agua Dulce Park, for the community it is in. Escobar said it wasn’t meant to be a slight, but rather based on a dislike of commissioners to have things named for them.
Teran Park was dedicated in 2008 in honor of the longest-serving commissioner in El Paso. Teran was investigated in a sweeping public corruption probe by the FBI, but never charged.
