Traffic is moving a little more smoothly along westbound Pellicano Drive in far East El Paso as the dreaded orange barrels that have long restricted traffic are no longer blocking lanes and construction on the first expansion phase inches closer to completion.
The westbound lanes from Aircoupe Way to Joe Battle Boulevard are expected to be complete by the end of December – a welcome milestone after construction came to a halt in 2023 when the original contractor filed for bankruptcy.
While the first phase of the long-delayed roadway is closer than ever to completion, key approvals are still needed before the second phase of the work can begin. The full project is to expand a three-mile stretch of Pellicano into a six-lane divided roadway in the area that’s seen notable commercial and residential development – leading to increased traffic and bottlenecks.
Design for the second phase is complete. But the Camino Real Regional Mobility Authority and the county of El Paso will have to negotiate with the surety – the bond company secured by J.A.R. Concrete, the original contractor that defaulted on the project – for a final price tag to complete the work.
“There’s still a lot that we’re going to have to negotiate with the surety, but our priority was at least getting that main part of the roadway completed to relieve all of the congestion in that area,” said El Paso County Commissioner Illiana Holguin, whose precinct encompasses Pellicano Drive.
The second phase is estimated to cost about $30 million, said Raymond Telles, executive director of the CRRMA. The difference is a 43% increase from the original estimate of about $21.6 million more than five years ago.
“The phase two cost is so much higher because of the various increases that have impacted the industry since the original project was bid in 2019 (including) the pandemic, supply chain, etc.,” Telles said.
There is no timeline for the agreement to be finalized with the surety since the bankruptcy has not been fully resolved.
Holguin said completing the current phase goes a long way toward helping relieve the traffic congestion.
“When the work stopped after the original contractor filed for bankruptcy, and work stopped completely, we were hearing from residents of that area pretty much on a daily basis because, of course, it was incredibly frustrating for them that work came to a complete stop,” Holguin said.
She said those daily calls have largely ceased since Hawk Construction, the contractor hired by the surety, resumed the work.
“We’re not hearing from people, which to me is a good thing because they see that work is being done. They see that the project is getting closer and closer to completion, and certainly the huge, huge delays and congestion that we had when work stopped … things have gotten a lot better now, especially now that both sides of the roadway are pretty much open,” Holguin said.
The phase nearing completion includes construction of a new transition to the existing roadway at Aircoupe Way and two drainage ponds.
Telles said the key focus for now is completing the four-way Mission Ridge intersection that is partially closed. The cost for the work is about $7 million and is being paid with funds from the existing project balance from federal, Texas Department of Transportation and local dollars and $6 million the county agreed to contribute as gap funding through vehicle registration fees, Telles said.
“After that, we’ll finish up some smaller pavement pieces east and west at the intersection, and then the transition piece, which is closer to Aircoupe Way,” Telles said.
RELATED: Eastside’s long-stalled Pellicano Drive expansion still hung up in courts
The second phase from Aircoupe Way east to Darrington Road includes completing the eastbound lanes of Pellicano Drive, then adding medians, sidewalks, landscaping, safety lighting, concrete pavement and storm drainage.
Telles said it is unclear whether the remaining work for phase two will be broken up into smaller phases based on future negotiations with the surety.
“We’ll hand it (the design) to the surety. The surety will put a price to it, and then once they know their total potential exposure, we can all sit down and try to negotiate something out,” Telles said.
The construction to widen Pellicano Drive started in 2020, but began to stall in 2022 before completely coming to halt the next year, in part because J.A.R. filed for bankruptcy.
Legal proceedings have not been fully resolved since the bankruptcy trustee for J.A.R. appealed an April court ruling that the default filed against the company by the CRRMA was proper. The bankruptcy proceedings have been an ongoing source of delays. J.A.R. finished about 47% of the work before it stopped construction in 2023.
The original completion was set for 2022.
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