El Pasoans frustrated over I-10 closure

It was a hectic morning for drivers in west El Paso Sunday. A large portion of Interstate 10 was scheduled to be shut down for 12 hours. But, fortunately, crews managed to reopen I-10 about 5 hours earlier then expected.

“Yeah it was pretty frustrating,” Carlos Lodoza said.

“Lot of traffic, definitely a lot of traffic,” Robert Brock said

El Pasoans ABC-7 spoke with were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic on Mesa Street.

“A lot more semis than I have ever seen on Mesa,” Oscar Garcia said.

While some said they weren’t warned about the project that shut down both sides of the freeway, others planned ahead.

“I was late for work because it took 45 minutes to finally get there,” Brock said.

The closure was part of TXDOT’s westside highway project. El Paso Electric crews rerouted two transmission lines between Executive and downtown. Westbound traffic was forced to exit at Mesa Street and eastbound traffic was diverted onto Executive Center Boulevard. El Paso Electric Spokesman Eddie Gutierrez said its unique to shut down both east and west bound lanes.

“Crews were working into the night and obviously with good weather, obviously our crews on hand, we really were able to finish on time,” Gutierrez said.

While the job wrapped up around noon, motorists agree it was a hectic morning.

“I had to make alternate routes. I had to put it on my GPS what road to take,” Lodoza said.