NEWS — Court nixes south Del Rio bridge route

By Karen Gleason

The 830 Times

County commissioners court members voted unanimously Tuesday to scrap initial plans for a south Del Rio relief route between the existing international bridge and U.S. Highway 277.

The vote came at the end of a public hearing during which south Del Rio residents expressed their dismay that such a route could be planned through their quiet neighborhoods. About 50 persons attended the public hearing, which was held in the old county court-at-law courtroom where the commissioners court meets.

The hearing constituted a resumption of the commissioners court regular term meeting from earlier in the day on Tuesday. At the end of that meeting, the court recessed until 6 p.m. to listen to citizens’ concerns about the proposed route and possibly take action.

Seven area residents spoke to the court about their concerns regarding the route, including Dr. Pat Martin, Bea Vallejo, Joey Bolner, Alfredo “Fred” Carranza Jr., Ana Markowski Smith, Frankie Lewis and Katelyn Hurta, who also spoke to the court during its regular meeting earlier in the day.

Martin said he had three points he wanted to make.

“The point most people here are going to be making is any kind of route through south Del Rio – the south Del Rio community is real quiet, it’s peaceful – would interrupt that, destroy homes and property through that area. Secondly, those trucks coming out of the international bridge out of Mexico and into Del Rio, they’re not headed back south to Eagle Pass. They’re wanting to go either east or they want to go north or west, so they wouldn’t be using that bypass.

“And third, putting that bypass in before we know where a second (international) bridge is going doesn’t make sense,” Martin added.

After Martin finished, County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. said he wanted to listen to whoever else wanted to speak, but noted he would oppose any route “that would go over, through or under Qualia (Drive).”

Vallejo, Bolner, Hurta and Lewis elaborated on some of the themes set out by Martin.

After Hurta finished speaking, Lewis again addressed the audience, telling them that during the morning session of the court, its members voted to allow him to reach out to city officials and tell them that if they needed to county’s help with bridge routes that they could ask for that help in writing.

Carranza, a former member of the Del Rio City Council, spoke to the court in opposition of the relief route, though he said he believes the city and county need a second international bridge.

He also urged the court to work more closely with the city.

Owens interjected that looking at the relief route had been the city’s idea.

“I said I wasn’t going to throw rocks, but I’m going to throw them. It wasn’t our idea, so let’s clear this up. We were asked by the city to look at a route. This wasn’t our idea. We were asked by the city.

“We were asked to come up with the route. I was asked three weeks ago by the mayor and (City Manager) John Sheedy to look at the route and how were we going to move forward with the route. This wasn’t something that we yanked out of our ass, alright? It wasn’t something that I decided to go do just because we decided to go do it. We were asked to look at a route,” Owens said.

“At this route or for an alternate location?” Carranza asked.

“For this route, the route that we’re talking about today,” Owens replied.

Owens then spoke about a previous court vote to oppose the city’s current plans for a second international bridge, saying the city seems to be moving in certain directions regarding plans for the bridge without informing or involving the county.

“We wouldn’t be having this conversation, Mr. Carranza, if the city had not asked us to look at it, and like I told John (Sheedy) and I told the mayor three weeks ago, I don’t have the right to say yes or no to this route. I’m just a member of the court, and I will put it on the agenda, and that’s how this got started, alright?” Owens said.

He said, however, he believed the city and county need to come together and continue discussions on plans for a second international bridge.

“If the city comes to us and says, ‘I want to have a conversation,’ and it’s in the form of an email or a letter, we will have a conversation with them on anything else they want to talk about. I do believe there’s no way for any of us to move forward as a community, whether we live in the city or the county, unless we talk. That’s why we’re here, Mr. Carranza,” Owens said.

After Owens and Carranza finished their exchange, County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus’ Flores asked to speak.

“Just to clear the water, I did vote against the route and the site of the second bridge. I’m not against the second bridge. We do need the second bridge. There’s economic growth to consider, for this border, so, at the end of the day, if this route is not going to work over here on the south side, we need to consider something else . . . Ports-To-Plains is coming this way, and we need to consider that, too, so, like you say, we need to leave the doors open for economic growth,” Flores said.

Owens asked if there was anyone in the room in favor of the route, a question that drew laughter.

“I will tell you again that I’m not for anything that goes over Qualia, under Qualia, through Qualia, whatever, at this point,” Owens said, then spoke about property he and his wife own off Qualia, attempting to dispel talk that he was somehow to profit from the proposed route.

The judge then asked each commissioner for comment on the issue.

When Owens asked County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw if he had any comments, Wardlaw said he would like to make a motion.

Owens said he wanted to give the other commissioners a chance to speak before making the motion.

County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez said he had no comments.

County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton said, “This started out as a project the city wanted to do. They came and asked, and we met with them. I did. The judge did. I know you were told at the meeting on Sunday that this was my route. That was not the case.

“I have concerns about a second bridge, period, at this time. I think the expansion of the existing bridge is not a bad project. Whether we need a route back to the loop or not, that’s a whole other conversation. I think the city expanding the existing bridge for truck traffic would help, but that’s the extent of what I think should happen at this time,” Nettleton said.

Flores, when it was his turn to comment, again said the city and the county must keep economic development in mind for the future.

Owens then closed the public hearing and asked for a motion.

“I’d like to make a motion that we abandon the talk of this route crossing Qualia,” Wardlaw said, with Nettleton giving the second. The court voted unanimously in favor of the motion.

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