By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores has announced the award of a $2.2 million
grant to build a sidewalk along a busy street just south of the Del Rio city limits.
The grant will come to Val Verde County through the Texas Department of Transportation
(TxDOT) and will fund the construction of 6,100 linear feet of four-foot-wide sidewalks on the
north side of Cienegas Road from the Del Rio city limits west to the Duck Pond, Flores told The
830 Times in a recent interview.
Flores said county officials became aware of the opportunity to apply for the grant from Richard
Zamora of Texas Infrastructure Development Corp., the engineering firm conducting work on the
Cienegas Road reconstruction.
“He brought it to our attention at a meeting, and I spoke to the county judge and our county
engineer and said I thought it was a heck of an idea. I would love to go after that money,” Flores
said.
Flores said as part of the grant application process, he asked community leaders, business owners
and individuals to write letters supporting the attempt to place sidewalks in the area.
“It was a big push to show that the community really wanted these sidewalks. We not only had
people from the Industrial Park, but residents of the Chaparral, Cienegas Terrace and Vega Verde
neighborhoods, people who visit the community center or the park,” Flores said.
In addition to the letters, a number of business owners and managers and individuals spoke
during a regular meeting of Val Verde County Commissioners Court so their comments could be
noted in the record.
“One of the business owners spoke about how his employees that walk back and forth along the
road and how dangerous that is and how a sidewalk in that area would make it so much safer,”
Flores said.
“The sidewalk will also help residents of the area who walk to the Dollar General store there on
Cienegas, to the little laundromat, the meat market, the grocery store, the gas station and the
community center and make the walk safer for them,” the commissioner added.
The sidewalk will be constructed along Cienegas Road to coincide with the planned
reconstruction of the road.
Flores said the reconstruction of the road will alleviate drainage issues along the road with a
series of underground culverts. The culverts will channel the flow of runoff away from the
roadway to eventually empty into Cienegas Creek near the Duck Pond.
“I envision that building the road and adding the sidewalk will make it a beautiful, much safer
road for the people and businesses in that area,” Flores said.
Flores said he also hopes that one day, the city of Del Rio will tie in to the Cienegas Road
sidewalk and link it with an existing sidewalk along Spur 239.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
