By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
An alternate route linking the existing international bridge and State Loop 79 south of Del Rio will be the focus of a public hearing on Tuesday.
The public hearing is scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 31, in the old county court-at-law courtroom, 207B Losoya St.
Val Verde County Commissioners Court members first began discussing an alternate route linking the existing international bridge between Del Rio and Ciudad Acuña, Coah., Mexico at their Dec. 6 meeting and spoke about it again during their most recent meeting on Jan. 17.
During the Jan. 17 meeting, County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. told the court city of Del Rio officials “wanted to know if we would help them create a relief route from the existing bridge,” but during the court’s Dec. 6 meeting, County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton said this about the project: “This would allow us the ability to move traffic out of the industrial park onto the loop (State Loop 79) to relieve the traffic coming down Spur 239 through the middle of town. This was a project that me and the judge (Owens) proposed to the city. . . as an alternative to the project that they’re doing, which I think (this) is a more feasible project.”
Owens opened the discussion on Jan. 17, saying he had visited with city officials earlier in the month. He again presented a map that sketches out one possible route from the existing bridge to U.S. Highway 277 and State Loop 79 southeast of the Del Rio city limits.
The proposed route would move traffic southeast from the existing bridge and across the San Felipe Creek then generally east to U.S. Highway 277.
Owens said at the start of the discussion, “I think we’re fixing to displace a lot of individuals, no matter what you all do down there.”
Owens also said he owns a piece of property in the area the proposed route might cross and spoke about some other features of that landscape.
“I will tell you all, this road, where Qualia’s at, if you go straight down Qualia, a 200, 300-foot right-of-way, you have a house on Bolner Lane, where Bolner Lane is at, right there at the corner (of Bolner and Qualia), Carranza’s old house. On the other side you have a lift station, right there where you go into the lots, the houses, and then you have a trailer park a little bit farther down,” Owens said.
County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores, in whose precinct a portion of the alternate route would be located, said, “It’s hard, but I would think, judge, go down the Qualia Relief Route, then down to Qualia Lane, cut across, through the land the Altizers own, and then just go straight down that way.”
“Either way, no matter what you all decide, whether it goes this way or whether it goes back up this way and comes through here, you’re going to have all these people here upset. You’ve got a guy here that had just bought this 90 some-odd acres,” Owens said, though he added, “Nothing’s written in stone.”
He noted the route would have to cross the San Felipe Creek close to its confluence with the Rio Grande.
“Because all that land, from the San Felipe Creek on the Star Ranch, those properties there, they have no title. That was land that belonged to Mexico, and back in the 50s, that big old flood that they had, the river jumped and stole land from Mexico. That’s what I was told,” Flores said.
“There are going to be all kinds of issues,” Flores added.
“Well, I’m bringing it to you all. The city asked me to bring it to you all in case the court is interested in moving forward with some type of relief route from SL79 to the original bridge that we have right now, so I told (the city) that I would bring it to you all. If you all don’t want to move forward, if you want to move forward, I need to be able to tell them something back,” Owens said.
“We can move forward, judge, the only thing is we need to have a couple more options, as to which one is the best route,” Flores said.
“So, judge, are you asking for a public hearing on this?” County Commissioner Pct. 1 Martin Wardlaw asked.
“I’m asking for your opinion. I’m asking, one, do you want to move forward with the city and come up with a route or do you all just want to leave it alone? That’s one. And two, if you want to come up with a relief route, do you all want to pick another route and go through that? I will tell you that either route that you all pick, it’s just going to be a lot of people mad,” Owens replied
“If you come up here, you have all of Pepper Lane, all that area up there. You have the Brinkley (Estates) that’s right next to it, and now you’re going to stick a 300-foot right-of-way separating Pepper Lane and Brinkley Estates. If you go down here and do this one, you’ve got Carranza’s here. You’ve got Lupita Subdivision, you’ve got the trailer park, and you’ve got the Star Ranch, and you’ve got the people that just bought this (property) so they could have a place to raise their garden and all these people that are fixing homes. Either way, you’re going to make people mad with any route that you all pick,” the judge added.
“Can we ask for a public hearing? Can we vote on that?” Wardlaw asked.
Owens noted the commissioners court’s next regular session is on the morning of Jan. 31.
After discussion, the court then scheduled the public hearing for 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 31, in the old county court-at-law courtroom.
The court voted unanimously to set the public hearing on Jan. 31.
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