By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
First in a three-part series
A joint meeting of the city council and county commissioners court seemed to create more questions than were answered regarding the city’s plans for a second international bridge.
Chief among those questions is the route the city plans to connect the site of the proposed new bridge and U.S. Highway 90 and State Loop 79. The current site selected for the new bridge is upstream of the existing bridge, about half-way between the existing bridge and Amistad Dam.
Other questions include the estimated cost of the bridge and the
as the city’s consultants on the proposed second international bridge project, answers
questions during Tuesday’s joint city-county meeting on the project. (Photo by Karen
Gleason)
road infrastructure needed to serve it and whether or not there will be enough commercial traffic over the structure to warrant its construction in the first place.
All seven members of the city council and all five members of county commissioners court attended Tuesday night’s joint meeting, which was held in the Red Oak Ballroom at the Del Rio Civic Center. About 70 members of the public also attended.
Mayor Al Arreola opened the meeting and emphasized, “This hasn’t been done yet. We want to make sure everybody’s on the same page. I think there were several statements that we already have everything settled. We’re still working with our consultants to pick the best route, the best solution for everybody.”
Arreola told those attending that the city plans to “listen to your feedback and answer your questions to the best of our ability.”
“We’re not doing anything yet. We’re not proceeding with anything. We’re still wanting to negotiate to come to the best solution and not to affect anybody,” Arreola said.
Arreola and other city officials repeated the gist of those statements several times during the meeting.
After making his opening remarks, Arreola turned the floor over to County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr., who announced the agenda item for the county commissioners court meeting.
Owens invited members of the public to begin addressing the council and the court, asking them to identify themselves and state where they lived.
After hearing a number of residents speak against using Las Brisas Boulevard north of the Del Rio to connect the planned bridge with U.S. Highway 90 and State Loop 79, Owens led the commissioners court in taking a vote to oppose using that route.
After the vote, Owens adjourned the commissioners court meeting, leaving the city council to continue listening to and responding to citizens’ comments and questions.
City Manager John Sheedy explained that the second international bridge was a project that had already been in progress when he became city manager and said the bridge site was selected years ago following a lengthy vetting process in which a number of sites were examined.
“The only reason Las Brisas is the only option that’s on the map (as the proposed route) is that where we started with, that’s where we picked up the project, so Las Brisas was the primary route,” Sheedy told one woman who opposed the Las Brisas route.
The city manager added the city’s consultants on the project are actively examining other routes as well.
After listening to additional citizen comments, Arreola repeated that the city is still in the process of selecting a route and promised additional meetings with residents.
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