Plan For Upper Valley Roadways Unveiled

EL PASO, Texas – Some residents in El Paso’s Upper Valley are breathing a sigh of relief, assured they won’t be losing their property to make way for roadway upgrades.

City officials presented the results of a two-year traffic study Wednesday evening at a joint public meeting between members of the Legislative Review Committee and the Planning and Development Services & Transportation.

Among the concerns arewhat to do with the heavily congested Country Club Road.

Every morning, Rosemary Wheelers gets an up close look at the traffic backup from herhome.

“When I’m having coffee, they’re already lined up,” Wheeler told ABC-7.

So the fix for the problem?

Adding a third turning lane to Country Club.

The city-commissioned study found a way to do it by 2017 without having to knock down homes, even throwing in walking and bike lanes for some parts of the road.

“We’re really happy to hear the city likes this plan,” said Marylou Witholder, an Upper Valley resident.

The study also included extending and re-doing lanes on Artcraft and Redd roads, sprinkling roundabouts around the area and adding overpasses for the railroad tracks that run alongside Doniphan by 2025.

“The aerial going over the tracks at Sunland Park is certainly needed,” said Elizabeth Westrom, another Valley resident.

After taking comment card questions at Wednesday’s meeting, representatives Susie Byrd, Beto O’Rourke and Ann Morgan Lilly – members of Planning and Development services – voted to send the recommended plan to the City Plan Commission.

The CPC should get the recommendation within the next 30 days before sending it to the full City Council for a vote two to three weeks after that.