More construction coming for east El Paso county

Expect to see even more traffic cones around El Paso County in the future. County commissioners voted Monday to give the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority the funds and project oversight for six new road projects.

“We already have significant congestion in this community,” County Judge Veronica Escobar said.

In response, Escobar said the county is taking action that will fix the problems, now and get ahead of future growing pains from development in the eastern parts of the county.

The vote Monday gives the go-ahead to a new slate of projects across the lower valley and east El Paso County.

“I know sometimes this can be an inconvenience to the public,” Escobar said.

But commissioners said the green lighted mobility projects will be necessary for the growth of the county, now and in the future. Six projects will be spread across the eastern parts of the county, mostly in Commissioner Vince Perez’s District 3.

“New housing developments in between Loop 375 and Horizon City,” Perez said, pointing at a map of the projects. “And so this is one of the fastest growing areas of El Paso County.”

The construction along existing roadways like Eastlake Boulevard and the dilapidated Old Hueco Tanks Road and new arterial roads will all work together to make getting around far east El Paso and the county much easier.

Perez said growth in unincorporated areas is creating crowded roadways and congestion on I-10.

“There are just many residents here,” Perez said. “And so this will give them more options. Whether they need to get on 375, or they want to go down to Eastlake, they want to hit I-10. It’s just providing much more, better mobility for residents out in the far east.”

The Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority will be managing the engineering and overseeing the projects for the county. Funding will come from $70 million in bonds secured by the $10 vehicle registration fee hike commissioners put into place at the start of last year.

The projects slated to start as soon as 2016 include a Mission Ridge arterial project connecting to Eastlake to Pelicano Drive, two phases of work and expansion on Eastlake itself, and the new construction on Old Hueco Tanks Road along with the widening of Vista Del Sol Drive and Rojas Drive outside the El Paso city limits.