Construction for Streetcar Project Underway

might want to cpack a bottle of tylenol in your car if you drive through downtown. tonight, we’re taking yoo to the streets of downtown el paso. that’s where the trolley line project is about to cause a lot of headaches for drivers. welcome back to abc-seven at six, i’m estela casas. and i’m bob harp. the city is building this trolley in a very busy part of el paso… and that means roads that a lot of you take will be closed for the construction. so expect congestion on other roads in the downtown area… for the next couple months! this is just the first part of the three year project! these are the street cars now being refurbished in pennsylvania. they’re the same trolleys that ran in el paso until the early 1970’s. the texas department of transportation is spending nearly 100-million dollars to bring them back to life. state rep joe pickett says using so much money on the project could keep el paso from getting other money in the future. but the trolley is happening, whether you’re for or against it. sun metro will operate and maintain the streetcars. and they’ll connect downtown to utep… and then back downtown again. starting anyday now, traffic on kansas street will be affected. that means if you have business at the courthouse, you won’t be able to get off i-10 and head down kansas as usual. so, you’ll have to take one of two routes. since kansas is southbound only… if you’re on i-10, your best bet will be to hit mesa… then down mesa… and over to the courthouse at overland. or you can even get there from paisano … just turn up campbell and and head north. for the next six weeks or so, stanton will also be closed from river to arizona. that’s the area around cathedral high school and st patrick elementary. your best bet here is take mesa… north or south… or you can even hit kansas down to i-10. there will also be a complete closure of father rahm, from mesa to kansas . there are a variety iof surrounding streets you can take to avoid this mess. right now on the kvia.com facebook page, we’re asking if you think the trolley is worth all the scheduled closures? tell us rtight now and nichole and i will have your discussion on abc-seven at nine on the cw. the principal of zach white elementary school has been arrested. 42 year old joel valencia was