City Spends $543,000 To Resurface & Replace Parts Of Bumpy Hawkins Boulevard

A traffic detour on a major east side boulevard is straight ahead for Sun City drivers.

Starting Thursday evening at 7 p.m. Hawkins Boulevard will be closed from Industrial avenue to Merchant avenue. It will open 12 hours later, only to close again on Sunday for 24 hours. Drivers will have to take a detour through Tony Lama street.

ABC-7 spoke with drivers on that stretch of road Wednesday afternoon. All of them said the construction work was welcome. “It sucks!” said one man about the dented, grooved surface. “It’s a bumpy, dangerous ride” said another.

The City of El Paso is working with the Department of Transportation and Union Pacific Railroad on the project. According to a news release, construction should be finished in about 4 months and will cost $543,000.

The changes will be extensive: new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalks, new water lines, a replacement storm sewage system to alleviate flooding, and new railroad tracks.

John Smith works at an auto body shop nearby. He told ABC-7 the changes are long overdue. “We’ve actually gone down (to that part of Hawkins) to get a few people because their cars have broken. It’s pretty rough down there.”