No deadline in sight for Pellicano construction limiting traffic to two lanes

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The Pellicano Drive Widening Project was expected to be complete by July 21, 2021. However, construction is only 50% complete with the project at a standstill. Construction barriers are still in place, limiting traffic to two lanes.

"It's terrible," said Armando Reyes, a resident impacted by construction. "So you try to look for other routes, but anywhere you go around here, it's tough."

The Pellicano Widening Project is supposed to expand the existing roads to 6 lanes from Joe Battle to Darrington in Far East El Paso.

The project is at a standstill after the Camino Real Regency Authority issued a notice of Default to the contractor and issued a claim against the contractor's performance bond saying they didn't do part of the job rights and needed to fix it. CRRMA gave the company ten days to fix the problems.

The contractor did not meet the deadline, but instead disputed the default and filed for bankruptcy in March. That's why construction is stopped.

Residents in this neighborhood off of Pellicano are facing even more hassle, all thanks to these barriers. Those barriers are adding even more time to get to and from their home on top of an already long commute.

"They put this barrier there for no apparent reason because there's no construction there. So it limits us to come in and out. All the traffic going towards one side only, and it makes it worse in the mornings to go to work, to come," said a nearby resident.

Back when CRRMA hired J.A.A.R. Construction, the company bought a surety bond, which is like insurance. The CRRMA and the surety bond company are planning to meet to discuss the possibility of hiring a new construction company to complete the job.

ABC 7 reached out to the CRMMA Executive Director Raymond Telles who said in part quote, "The fact that they've agreed to the meeting is a great first step and I'm cautiously optimistic. But this is the beginning of the process to potentially start construction."

Residents say had they have they known what was to come. They would have rethought their home purchase.

"Definitely before we made the purchase of the of house of the property. If we would have seen that going on, we would have looked for other options," said a nearby resident.

"We bought the house online, you know, through a real estate agent. And we didn't know there was a backup. That would have been a consideration," said Reyes.

With no completion date in sight, officials are still unsure when construction will resume.