TxDOT’s ‘Re-imagine I-10’ project may include tearing down downtown El Paso bridges, demolishing properties

EL PASO, Texas -- On Tuesday evening, the Texas Dept. of Transportation uploaded a virtual presentation on the several options they are considering for the final plans of the Re-imagine I-10 project in El Paso.

Tuesday's upload comes after TxDOT received more than 100 comments on their first draft presented to the public in 2019.

TxDOT spokeswoman Jennifer Wight told ABC-7 that it's time to move forward.

"Our main goals are improved mobility more robust multi-modal ways and to add continuous frontage roads for incident management," said Wright.

Not only is the road slowly decaying, the city of El Paso is growing and TXDOT said they need to expand the amount of lanes.

Out of the numerous options, Option H had the highest approval from TxDOT. Some of the key features include enhanced crossing at intersections, expanding freeway lanes and the frontage road and adding walking and bike paths.

One thing that's certain, all the bridges in the downtown area need to come down because they don't meet the state's height requirement. TxDOT is considering sinking the freeway or raising all the bridges.

"They all need to be taken down, but the question is how many do we put back and there’s alternatives that leave all of them and there’s alternatives that minimize it down to three," said Wright.  

There is some opposition to the project. Some of the options include widening I-10 in downtown, which would mean some buildings need to be demolished.

Cito Negron, president of the Sunset Heights Neighborhood Improvement Association, told ABC-7 he is glad some of the options include not demolishing properties, a big change from the first drafted plan TxDOT presented.

However, Negron told ABC-7 this project is not progressive and not necessary.

"It looks like the proposal they started with to widen the freeway, add frontage roads and re-configure the off-ramps and on-ramps with new elevations will bring high-speed traffic with noise pollution and vibration closer to our low-income residents in our historic neighborhood," said Negron.

TxDOT said this project needs to happen sooner than later.

"If we wait ten years to do this its just going to be worse," said Wright.

The options presented by TxDOT are not final and they are looking for public feedback on their website.

TxDOT hopes to start building in 2026 and hopes to finish by 2029. It is expected to cost around $700 million depending on the final plan.