Water project will tie up roads for months more

Plenty of drivers have been dealing with serious headaches for months, and residents are saying they’ve been left in the dark about what’s going on with a major water utility project on the Westside.

The water main replacement near the intersection of Sunland Park Drive and Mesa Street has been more than a hassle for some, and ABC-7 has found out that the project could now drag on up to three months longer than expected.

It’s all because of an El Paso Water Utilities project to replace a 24 inch water main going along Fiesta Street and others near the Mesa and Sunland Park intersection.

The project started in January, and was only expected to take about 8 months, to September.

The water utility said the project has involved carefully boring holes under the road for the new sections of pipe, and there have been numerous setbacks when nearby services and the old water main have broken along the process.

Many residents in the area said they never received any notice about what was going on with the project.

“I had not heard from them at all,” said Rudy Fuentes, a five year resident of a house that has been blocked by the construction. “I don’t know if they’ve let other neighbors know, but me myself personally no, I haven’t”

Spokeswoman Christina Montoya said EPWU did reach out to homeowners with flyers and public meetings about the project

“We did have a public meeting,” Montoya said. “And we did hand out some flyers in the neighborhood about when the project was starting, what lanes it would be affecting, what neighborhoods. Because it is in the middle of some residential streets. And really we did that because we wanted people to understand what they were seeing when they walked out the door and when they were driving.”

So it could be three more months before drivers and residents have roads cleared in the area. Delays from construction complications and the recently wet weather have pushed back the timeline and budget. Montoya said that engineers are estimating that the project will now be going over budget, though a total cost won’t be available until the project is complete.