NEWS — Citizens speak out against Las Brisas route for bridge

By Karen Gleason

The 830 Times

Most of the citizens who spoke during Tuesday’s joint meeting of the city council and the county commissioners court on the proposed second international bridge said they don’t want the road leading to it going anywhere close to their properties.

About a dozen citizens spoke during the meeting, beginning with Jordan Ediger, who lives on a road close to one of the proposed routes linking the planned second international bridge with U.S. Highway 90 and State Loop 79 north of Del Rio.

“The proposed route would sandwich my family’s house between two four-lane highways. In the informational meeting we had (previously), the question I had, and it was never really answered, was the option to (build the new bridge) downstream (of the existing bridge) was taken off the table, and if you go downstream closer to Laughlin Air Force Base, you could also hook up (to) the Loop there. In addition, you wouldn’t have the impact to all these families here. So my question is, why was the downstream site taken off the table?” Ediger asked.

City Manager John Sheedy replied the city “went through the process and looked at all the routes, and there was a lot of public involvement and input” and the site selected for the bridge at the time is the site the city is still using.

County Judge Lewis Owens Jr. added when State Loop 79 was constructed, the overpass constructed over Highway 90 “was built with the intention of going to the second international bridge.”

“There’s a 100-foot right-of-way which is wider than most rights-of-way in Lake Ridge, and there’s another 100-foot setback set from the property line into individuals’ properties, on both sides. When this thing was thought of, before we got here in 2011, that was always supposed to happen. SL79 was built because of the second international bridge. . . But with the development we’ve had out there recently. . . and I guess as county judge, the last four years that I’ve been there, I’ve haven’t done a really good job of letting you all know that live out on Las Brisas that’s the reason you had a 100-foot setback. . .The reason the bridge was put upstream (from the existing bridge). . . was because of the maquilas already being out there on the Mexico side, but in saying that, in my opinion, there never was a great interest in building downstream,” Owens said.

Owens said he believes repositioning the site of the bridge south of Del Rio and connecting it to SL79 and Highway 277 south of Del Rio now seems more feasible, adding there would have to be agreement from Mexico for the move.

Mayor Al Arreola during the meeting repeatedly said the project “was not a done deal,” adding he wanted the city to seek the best solution to all concerned.

Del Rio businessman Frank Mendoza, who also serves on the city’s international bridge advisory commission, also spoke to the council and the court.

He said he has lived in Del Rio for 46 years, although he is originally from Chicago, Ill. He said he came to Del Rio because he had a family and didn’t want to raise his children in a big city.

“I wanted my family to be safe. I wanted my family to prosper. I wanted my family to grow,” he said.

Mendoza said he has met numerous young people from the area who all move away when they become adults for the opportunities available in larger communities. 

“If had more industry here, more good-paying businesses here, your children and grandchildren could stay here. . . We have roads coming in from Mexico to Del Rio. We have Ports-to-Plains coming in from Canada to Del Rio, but they divert to Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras why? Because they’re working on their third (international) bridge. We’re still working on our second bridge. We’re missing an opportunity here we shouldn’t miss. . .I look at this as the idea of Del Rio growing. . .We need a second bridge,” Mendoza said.

Del Rioan Bea Vallejo began her presentation to the court and council by saying that the Amistad Dam would be undergoing repairs in 2024.

She said she believed the geology of the area downstream of the dam will create problems for the construction of the bridge.

“We need to be very careful where we plan on building. The other thing is, we should not be displacing families, because that’s not our job. We’re supposed to be taking care of our communities. We elect you to represent us, not to come with your own opinions. . . We put you there to take of us,” Vallejo said.

Bruce Henderson, another resident of the Lake Ridge area, also expressed his concerns about using Las Brisas as the connector route. Henderson said the owners of properties along Las Brisas were not told when they purchased their land that it would one day look out over a four-lane highway.

“We weren’t told that. I spent 15 years building up a really nice property to retire at, and now I’m looking at selling. . . Everybody I’ve spoken to, everybody that’s been out there as long as me or longer are against the proposed (Las Brisas) route. Now, whether the bridge is needed or whether the bridge is not needed, that’s up to you guys. . . I know there’s numerous other routes that make better sense,” Henderson said.

Several other citizens spoke out against the city using the Las Brisas route, several of them saying they would have never purchased or built a house “if we’d known you were planning to put a four-lane highway to Mexico right in our backyards.”

John Grace, another resident with property along Las Brisas, recited a litany of negative impacts he believed would occur if the city were to proceed with the Las Brisas route, beginning with the loss of about 1.8 acres of his land for the proposed right-of-way.

“It’s going to affect our goat-breeding hobby, and we’ve also got donkeys. There’s going to be an increase in noise pollution. There’s going to be an increase in air pollution, an increase in traffic, of course. Our family privacy is going to be decreased because of all the trucks coming through day and night. There’s going to an increased probability of accidents, chemical spills and groundwater pollution if one of those (big) rigs jackknifes in our backyard, and I believe there’s going to be an increase in crime, an increase in failure-to-yields coming down Las Brisas, just a general loss of residential appeal and quiet enjoyment for myself and my neighbors,” Grace told the council and court.

Others voiced the same concerns.

“I understand this (route) may have been the plan many years ago, but times have changed,” resident Michelle Fagan said.

Arreola assured Fagan and the other residents that no route was currently “set in stone,” and Sheedy added, “We’re trying really, really hard to avoid Las Brisas. We are trying to find the least impactful route.”

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