Orange traffic drums generally hint at active construction sites and caution drivers to be careful. But the ones lined along Pellicano Drive in Far East El Paso also serve as a constant reminder of what has not happened – the completion of road improvements that were slated to be done three years ago.
Under a pending agreement, the county of El Paso would use $6 million from its vehicle registration fee fund slated for another road project that’s still in the design phase to restart the work – at least on the westbound lanes leading to Loop 375 where the relief is most needed.
The El Paso County Commissioners Court this week approved using the vehicle registration funds to move the work forward, but the agreement is still being finalized among the county, the agency overseeing the project and the surety company that was supposed to guarantee the work after the contractor filed for bankruptcy.
“It’s all dependent on us coming to a final agreement (with the surety),” said Raymond Telles, executive director of the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority overseeing the development.
The three-mile stretch of Pellicano Drive from Joe Battle Boulevard east to Darrington Road/Berryville Street was supposed to be completed in July 2022, but the bankruptcy of the contractor J.A.R. Concrete and subsequent legal proceedings halted construction.
Work on the westbound lanes could resume and would be completed within one year if the agreement with the surety United States Fire Insurance Company – the bond company secured by J.A.R. to ensure that the work would be completed if it defaulted on the project – is finalized within the next few weeks, Telles said.
The original work was to result in a six-lane divided roadway with raised medians, concrete pavement, curb and gutter, sidewalks, landscaping, safety lighting, storm drainage, signing and striping. Telles said while the project will still consist of six lanes, there may be some slight changes to its design.
As part of the negotiations, the CRRMA wants to enter a “takeover agreement” where the surety will complete the first phase of construction with $6 million still available from the Pellicano project funds comprising federal, state and local dollars and $6 million the county will contribute through vehicle registration fees. The cost of the second phase is still being determined.
The CRRMA would later recover the funds from the surety, said Betsy Keller, the county’s chief administrator.
“The surety hasn’t been willing to fund the project getting restarted,” Keller said.
In January 2014, the state legislature authorized counties to add up to $10 to state vehicle registration fees to bolster road construction. The county of El Paso’s additional fee generated about $6.4 million in 2024.
About $6 million for the Pellicano work will be deferred from funds that had been allocated for improvements to Darrington Road, which are in a design phase, Keller said.
Because the two roads intersect, Darrington improvements can’t start until Pellicano is completed, Keller said. The hope is that the court issues are resolved and the CRRMA recoups the funds from the surety while Darrington design and other preconstruction work is done, she said.
Under adjusted plans for Phase 1 of Pellicano, the westbound lanes from Aircoupe Way to Loop 375 would be completed, as well as, construction of a new transition to the existing roadway at Aircoupe Way. Two two drainage ponds would fall under this phase.
The second phase also includes the work that J.A.R. did not finish, including the completion of the eastbound and westbound segments of Pellicano Drive, and amenities such as the raised medians, sidewalks and landscaping from approximately Aircoupe Way east to Darrington Roadway.
“I’m cautiously optimistic,” Telles said, adding there have been many hurdles over the last five years to resolve the delays.
A bankruptcy court in April ruled that the default the CRRMA filed against J.A.R. was proper, but the surety has declined to take over responsibilities for completion of the work on Pellicano, in part, because the bankruptcy trustee for J.A.R. is appealing the bankruptcy court ruling.
J.A.R. Concrete started construction in 2020, but the work began to taper off in 2022 before it stopped altogether in mid-2023. As part of the contract with the mobility authority, J.A.R. was required to secure a surety. The default order filed by the mobility authority against them would have triggered the surety company’s requirement to take over the project, but the company is now wanting to wait to fund and complete the work until the trustee’s appeal is resolved in court.
Neither the United States Fire Insurance Company nor its parent company Crum & Forster Holdings Corp. based in New Jersey responded to El Paso Matters’ request for comment.
The county of El Paso entered into a contract with the CRRMA for the $21.6 million Pellicano reconstruction and improvements in 2017. The CRRMA oversees road and transportation projects in partnership with local governments, and awarded the contract to J.A.R. Concrete.
While the mobility authority has been maneuvering through the courts, drivers have been maneuvering the limited access of Pellicano Drive.
“It’s not always fun (to get stuck in traffic), but, you know, you just gotta look at the bright side,” said Moises Mendoza, an employee of Supreme Glass Co. that does business in the area. “At the end of the day, we just want to go home, so we just wait in line like everybody else, and then just wait for a turn.”
Less than half of the construction has been completed, leaving a two-mile stretch from Joe Battle Boulevard east to Aircoupe Way partially blocked, with traffic flowing in both directions.
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