By David C. Stout
I strongly believe that parks and green spaces are essential for a thriving community with high quality of life.
That is why I support the concept, if not the actual proposal, to put a park on top of the Trench, the depressed portion of Interstate 10 of about six blocks on the north edge of Downtown.
However, I know that transportation is the fastest-growing source of climate-altering pollution, and that highways are the largest part of that, and that people who live adjacent to highways are affected by the exhaust, noise, vibrations, and critically, heat emitted from vehicles – especially commercial trucks.
That is why I oppose Downtown 10, a proposed project to expand I-10 and add mini-highways in the form of new frontage roads next to the highway, from Copia to Executive, about a six-mile stretch.
And that is why, while I’m still carefully considering my wants and those of proponents of the so-called “deck park,” I also am thinking about the rights of my constituents to live in healthier, cleaner neighborhoods.
For background, the deck is a developer-driven project many years in the planning. The project developers have been working for years behind the scenes at the highest levels of the Texas Department of Transportation and state government to gain political support, and now are working on gaining community support.
The same people are also pushing the widening of I-10 Downtown as they continue to ignore the negative environmental impacts and health implications that doing so will bring, due to induced traffic demand. This is a well-recognized concept that applies economic theory of supply and demand to roads. Put simply, if you build it, they will come, even if they hadn’t planned to before.
El Paso, quite frankly, does not have the same traffic problems other major Texas cities have. There are hot spots during peak hours – I-10 around Lee Treviño consistently clogs, as does Loop 375 at Montana and around Zaragoza.
Downtown 10 does not address those needs, as an independent consultant hired by the County found. It will exacerbate the existing problems around the Spaghetti Bowl, which has horrible congestion on the ramp that heads to Juárez, a direct and severe source of pollution for the San Javier and Chamizal neighborhoods, as well as San Juan and Washington-Delta, and on the eastbound climb up I-10 right before Bassett.
What would benefit all of El Paso, and especially the area I represent, would be to depress the highway between Copia and Downtown, reducing the pollution spewed by highways onto neighborhoods, as well as the noise and vibrations and even heat. TxDOT was considering it, but apparently did not consider El Paso worthy of the expense.
Barring that option, which would require all hands on deck to advocate not only for funding but for community health, there is urgent work to be done.
TxDOT has said for years that the trench could fail. This is because what may be considered patchwork was done in the 1990s, but the roadway was not completely rebuilt as it should have been, and the roadway is at risk of failure.
It seems negligent not to address that. So a win-win could be to defer Downtown 10 until it can be designed and funded for community health, while addressing the pressing issues in the trench as quickly and efficiently as possible, without taking property.
This would allow deck proponents the opportunity to make their case to coordinate deck development with the work on the trench, for which I understand, although have not been told directly by TxDOT, there are two options.
One would take all the property on Yandell that sits above the trench, and potentially hand it over to private developers. That raises other issues; there is no need to take those properties in order to reconstruct the trench. The other option, known as Option D, uses the existing footprint of the trench.
This makes the most sense to me. TxDOT fixes the immediate problem, there is no taking property from one set of owners to hand over to others, and deck proponents can focus on convincing the community of the deck’s value.
At this point, they are dangling this shiny object in front of our faces to distract us from what the Downtown 10 project does, which is to harm some of the most vulnerable populations in this community. This is the definition of greenwashing!
We should not compromise the health, wellbeing and quality of life of low-income, historic neighborhoods and take property from small businesses for the benefit of well-connected developers and speculators.
So I say, build the park, but don’t widen the highway. Let’s make this happen together.
David C. Stout is El Paso County commissioner for Precinct 2.
The post Opinion: The ‘deck park’ can be built without widening the highway appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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