Karen Gleason
The long-awaited reconstruction of Frontera Road is set to begin today, County Commissioner Pct. 3 Gustavo “Gus” Flores announced.
Flores and members of his Precinct 3 crew held a symbolic groundbreaking for the project at the county’s sports complex, located just off Frontera Road, on Thursday.
“This is a big accomplishment for me as a commissioner. I’ve been working on this project for the past nine years,” Flores said as he donned a hard hat and leather work gloves and turned over a shovel of dirt.
“This project was a very high priority when I took office, so I started tackling this project, and it’s been very challenging. There have been a lot of bumps in the road, so to speak,” Flores said.
The commissioner said the road project was plagued with problems and setbacks from early on.
“To start off with, the engineering firm we hired to represent us was Dannenbaum Engineering, and one of their engineers started the project, and then they moved him to El Paso and put another engineer in. Then they put a third one, and a fourth, so that was a big issue,” Flores said.
The commissioner said the fact the project was funded with state and federal monies also created complications.
“Then, the federal government, the General Services Administration, GSA, bought all this land (along the southern end of Frontera), so we had to deal with them. Off the pavement belongs to them, and they wanted us to ask permission every time we set foot on it. We needed a construction easement and a right-of-way easement, and that was time-consuming to get,” Flores said.
Once all the necessary approvals were in place, there were negotiations with property owners along the road for removal of the limbs of large trees overhanging the road.
Then, when the county went out for construction bids on the project, all of the bids came in beyond the project budget.
“We only had $4 million, and the bids came in over $7 million, and we couldn’t afford it. So we rebid the project, and thanks to God, we got Hunter Industries as the lowest bidder. It’s a great company, and I think they’re going to build us a great road,” Flores said.
“So when I say it’s been a very challenging project already, I really mean it. But I believe the challenges are over,” he added.
Flores said the construction phase, which begins today, will last 10 months to a year.
Flores thanked county commissioners court for its support of the project, singling out County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr., County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw and County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez.
Flores said he also wanted to thank Tom Garcia, the county judge’s administrative assistant, for his work on the project.
Flores said he believes the project will benefit both the county and the city once it is complete.
“It’ll be a good thing for everyone,” he said.
