Streetcar work on Kansas and Santa Fe streets will lead to closures

Vital work for the El Paso Streetcar project will start Monday with crews laying down new rails and moving overhead utilities.

Paso del Norte Trackworks crews will begin laying down rail 24 hours a day, seven days a week starting at Kansas and Santa Fe streets through their Paisano Drive intersection. El Paso Electric will also start relocating overhead utilities on Father Rahm Avenue.

The most complex rail of the nearly five-mile route will be installed on Santa Fe Street between Father Rahm Avenue and Paisano Drive. That is where curved rail for the “switching mechanism” will be placed, allowing street cars to enter and exit the Maintenance and Storage Facility, which is under construction next to Sun Metro’s Burt Williams Downtown Transfer Center.

The work will result in the closure of major routes in two South El Paso areas,officials said.

Beginning Monday, January 16, Paisano Drive will be closed closed to thru traffic between Chihuahua and El Paso streets. Santa Fe Street closed to thru traffic between Father Rahm Avenue and Overland Avenue. Both closures are scheduled through January 31.

If you use Paisono Drive on your daily commute, you will be redirected onto a marked east-west alterate route on San Antonio Avenue. Downtown commuters, who normally use streets in the area, to connect between Interstate 10 and Loop 375 will be re-routed onto marked north-south alternate routes on Mesaor Campbell streets.

During peak times, off-duty police officers will be stationed at key intersections to direct traffic.