TxDOT planning to expand Darrington Road in Horizon City

Horizon residents will be seeing a much-needed road improvement soon.

The Texas Department of Transportation held a meeting Thursday to explain the widening of Darrington Road.

For many the intersection of Horizon Boulevard and Darrington Road is the heart of Horizon City.

You can see clusters of new restaurants and businesses as well as traffic move smoothly under a four-lane, well-lighted Darrington Road. But if you drive east on Darrington, within five minutes, you see the four-lane become a dark two-lane road.

“Population is continuing to grow east of El Paso,” said Eddie Valtier, director of transportation and planning for TxDOT.

He told ABC-7 more homes, more businesses and more schools mean more traffic.

“When you bring new businesses, when you bring new residents to the area they do need the right facilities to get home safely,” Valtier said.

Several improvements will be made, including lighting in the area.

“What we’re planning to do with this project is create an additional lane so you’ll have two lanes in each direction. Included will be a bike lane, and we are planning sidewalks,” Valtier said.

TxDOT officials said residents are on board with the much-needed improvement. The project will begin in the summer and it will take a year to a year and a half to complete.