By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
County commissioners court is poised to weigh in on proposed routes linking a planned second international bridge with area highways during its first regular meeting in July.
An item to discuss the international bridge was on the court’s agenda Tuesday, but the meeting was recessed to 3 p.m. Wednesday, at which time the court reconvened to talk about the bridge and proposed routes. Attending the Wednesday meeting were city officials including Del Rio Mayor Al Arreola and City Manager John Sheedy and about a dozen county property owners who have vociferously protested the placement of a route to and from the bridge through the Lake Ridge Ranch area northwest of the city.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. welcomed those attending, telling Arreola and Sheedy he appreciated them coming to the meeting.
“I put an item on the agenda to talk about the second international bridge to see what line the court may come up with in order to present to the landowners that are there and to the city of Del Rio. (The route) that the city presented (at an open house earlier this month), I don’t think, in my opinion, is a viable option, just because of the amount of people that it’s going to affect,” Owens said.
The county judge said a route to and from the second international bridge along Las Brisas Boulevard – the originally planned route – would affect “109 different individuals.”
Owens during Wednesday’s meeting repeatedly said he would like to see a route to and from the proposed bridge that would affect the fewest number of people.
County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez said he would like to see all of the other options being considered for bridge routes.
“I would like to see an option that does not affect so many people,” County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores added.
After listening to city officials and comments from property owners, Owens said he wanted to present several suggested alternate routes between the site of a new international bridge and highways into and out of Del Rio.
Owens said the major problem with siting a bridge downstream of the existing bridge would be how to move commercial traffic between it to the Del Rio Industrial Park south of the city’s airport.
Owens said a route to and from a new bridge downstream of the existing bridge would also affect many property owners south of the city limits.
After additional discussion, Owens also noted that the longer the city and the county wait to make a decision on where to place the new bridge and routes leading to and from it, the more people those decisions will affect.
“I know I’m not going to make everybody happy. I just can’t. I know some people are going to be really upset with me and some people are going to want to set me on fire,” Owens said.
Owens and Nettleton then unveiled a proposed alternate route that would go north from the proposed site of the second international bridge upstream of the existing bridge. At Las Brisas, instead of turning east toward U.S. 90, the route would cross Las Brisas and continue north and tie into U.S. 90 at its intersection with Spur 349.
“That (route), you don’t have a lot of homes or development. The only issue you’re going to have is you’re going to have to cross the railroad tracks with an overpass,” Nettleton said.
Following more than an hour of discussion, Owens suggested that the commissioners each “go back and talk to their precincts, the people they represent.”
The county judge said the court’s next regular term meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 5, and he said he would place an item on the agenda to further discuss the international bridge. Owens said once the court has dealt with the rest of its agenda, he will ask that the meeting be recessed until 6 p.m. so the court can resume its discussion of the new bridge and proposed routes to and from the site.
“I’m a big believer in economic growth. I’m a big supporter of the second bridge. We have an issue with the route, and we’ve got to find a way to balance this out. We cannot stop growth, period. It’s coming, whether we like it or not,” Flores said.
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