Uncertainty continues over future of SH 68 connection

1 day ago 23

McALLEN — Two weeks after state Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, blasted TxDOT over the future of where a proposed state highway will meet up with Interstate 69C north of Edinburg, uncertainties continue to mount.

During an animated news conference that Canales, who chairs the Texas House Transportation Committee, called on short notice, he claimed TxDOT was making late-stage changes to the proposed path of State Highway 68.

He further lambasted the city of Edinburg, and in particular, Edinburg Mayor Ramiro Garza Jr., over the nature of those changes, intimating that the city was acting in its own interests without any input from or consideration for other stakeholders.

The highway will one day serve to connect the Rio Grande Valley’s land ports of entry to the interstate highway system, relieving local traffic arteries from the congestion of commercial traffic.

It’s expected to run from Donna, parallel to I69-C, also known as U.S. Highway 281, before joining up with the interstate about 10 miles north of the heart of Edinburg.

For more than a decade, the highway’s plans have called for it to be connected where Farm-to-Market Road 490 intersects the freeway, right next to the South Texas International Airport, which is owned by the city of Edinburg.

But about a year ago, news came to light that TxDOT had changed its plans because of the airport’s proximity to the proposed SH 68 interchange.

Instead of joining up at FM 490, TxDOT wants to move the interchange two miles north so that the future highway will not impact the flight paths of planes coming in and out of Edinburg’s small airport.

That realignment of the interchange, however, came as news to city officials.

It wasn’t until rural landowners came to city hall with letters from TxDOT that Edinburg became aware of the changes, prompting the city to urge TxDOT to honor the original interchange alignment.

But doing so would limit what that interchange could look like thanks to FAA regulations for roadways built near airports.

During his news conference late last month, Canales claimed that commercial traffic would be forced to come to a halt at a surface-level traffic light. He urged other stakeholders, including cities like Donna, Pharr, McAllen and Mission, which are home to land ports of entry, to make their thoughts known about.

Thus far, one city has taken the transportation chairman up on his suggestion.

On Monday, the McAllen City Commission unanimously passed a resolution urging TxDOT to consider a plan that will not involve traffic signals. “What our commission is concerned about is that the cargo specifically coming across our international points of entry face no obstruction as they make their way into commerce,” McAllen City Manager Isaac Tawil said after Monday evening’s meeting.

McAllen leaders are most concerned that commercial traffic will be able to flow freely from the border to points north. But they are less concerned as to where SH 68 joins the interstate.

“The city commission didn’t specify a preferred location,” Tawill said.

Over in Edinburg, meanwhile, location was the only topic of discussion during a public hearing held at an Edinburg City Council meeting on Nov. 5.

There, Garza, the Edinburg mayor, said that the idea of an intersection with a traffic light had come as just as much of a shock to Edinburg officials as it had to Canales.

The four-time All-America City isn’t in favor of a “signalized” intersection joining SH 68 to the interstate, either.

But what does concern Edinburg is TxDOT’s plans to move the interchange away from the airport — a decision that Garza said would prove “detrimental” to the city’s plans.

Edinburg has long hoped to use the interchange to spur economic growth in the city’s north side.

The interchange’s proximity to the airport was its chief selling point — literally — according to Place 1 Councilman Dan Diaz, who also sits on the board of directors for the Edinburg Economic Development Corporation.

In recent weeks, city officials were touting the region at a trade conference in Mexico, prompting industry professionals there to express interest in investing in Edinburg, Diaz said.

If Edinburg city officials were chagrined and surprised by TxDOT’s proposed realignment, its residents were even more nonplussed.

Several landowners attended the public hearing to plead for the city council’s intercession.

They were ones who alerted city officials to the changes in the first place.

TxDOT’s realignment plans will split their lands in half, they said.

One landowner even expressed how he felt duped.

Roel Garcia and his wife Sylvia purchased land near FM 490 in 2021 in order to enjoy the wide open spaces of the ranch lifestyle.

But throughout the entire process, no one ever mentioned that a highway was in the works.

It wasn’t until after all the paperwork was signed that a neighbor told them about the plans for SH 68.

The Garcias took it in stride, and adapted their plans to build a “bardominium” by moving it back 1,800 feet from where they assumed the highway frontage would be.

“About a week or two later after completing the barndominium, we get a letter,” Roel Garcia said.

The letter was to notify the Garcias of the new interchange alignment.

“And they sent me a picture right on top of the barn,” Roel Garcia said.

He, like the other landowners who rose to speak last Tuesday, begged for the city council’s help in communicating with TxDOT.

Ultimately, the Edinburg council took no action on the issue, but they did ask city staffers to reach out to TxDOT for more information.

But not everyone was optimistic.

Frequent public speaker and public advocate, Fern McClaugherty, said this new issue isn’t the first time that the SH 68 project has caused problems with landowners.

She directly attributes the project for at least one landowner’s death after he suffered a stroke while fighting to keep his land.

“My thing is, again, TxDOT, doesn’t give a tinker’s damn about anybody. I’ve watched them as these people begged for them to do (it) another way,” McClaugherty said.